Life is Only Black and White, You Have to Add Colour
by Aniimeziing
Summary: After losing to the Kalos League, Ash is ridiculed by many of his old friends, causing him to leave for 5 years. However, he returns for a battle of Champions, ready to claim his title, but now he is deadly: both with and without Pokemon. Ash x Harem Strong!Ash Aura!Ash Rated M for Violence, Language and Future Lemons
1. Chapter 1

**Hi there to anyone who actually reads this. My name is Jack, or Aniimeziing (I don't mind) and you have clicked on my very first story. Yes, my first story is about Pokèmon. Anyway, thank you for clicking on my work. Now, I don't want anyone to be overly nice: give me criticism if you think my work needs it, it may be my first story for but I have been here for quite some time, and have been on the writing scene for some time and know that the best authors are those who accept criticism and adapt to it. Now that my little rant, thing is over I will talk about the story itself.**

 **The story takes place 5 years after the Kalos Arc, where Ash would be around 13 if he actually aged so that is what he is here, and he is now 18: he will have aura and will be darker, but not like 'I will kill them all' dark. Now, my favourite kind of Pokèmon fanfiction is when Ash is betrayed or something like that so that will be the base. Also, yes, there will be a poll. I AM SO SORRY. I just don't know who to include and I want to make the best piece of fiction for you guys so I want you to decide, and I will try to include almost every girl people suggests into this. Anyhow, enjoy the fiction and I will talk to you at the end.**

 **Also, I am British so expect alot of English speak or grammar... NOW LET'S ENJOY SOME FICTION COCKERS!**

* * *

The sound of footfall on snow filled the air. Gusts of icy death and mist coated the landscape and refused refuge to anyone who set foot into the bleak and barren wasteland of Mt. Silver: the outlandish exterior blocking out the outside world while the complex network of caves held different types of Pokémon captive. As the noise kept growing louder and louder, there was a pause. A pause which was common in these lands. A pause which meant that the owner of the feet that walked the icy earth had unfortunately been taken over by the blazing cold, leading to their untimely demise. Instead, a low sigh filled the air before the sounds of footfall continued their trek.

Through the thick cloud of frozen liquid and haze that obscured the view, a dark shape started to form from the white expanse. Out of the fog stepped a young male of around 6'4. He wore his cap like a crown, the black and white fabric encircling his head and wild raven hair while a red Poke ball lay at the centre as a gem stone. Atop his crown lay a black hood that travelled down his back, a white blizzard outlining the jacket as it traversed down the teen's spine. Underneath the black cloth lay a crimson red hoodie that existed in the same realm of colour as the icon on his hat, but which also remained unzipped showing off an untucked and unbuttoned white dress shirt, a black tie hanging loosely around his neck. A pair of black and white skate shoes ended a pair of long slender legs, coated by dark jeans that were wrapped securely around the teen's lower body. Around his mouth was a plain black bandanna, shielding his face from the cold. However what stood out the most, were his eyes. A dark blue resonated from the iris' while the surrounding sclera was a pitch black midnight with small veins leaking from each eye, and every time his head moved they left small trails of neon after them, trying to catch up to their owners. On his back, lay a tired and battered backpack.

Suddenly, a small purring sound erupted from the pack. Twisting his head to examine the noise, the teen smiled under the cloth that obscured his mouth as a small, yellow rodent exploded out of the thin cover. Large black eyes stared back at him, reflecting his image like a mirror, while a small nose wriggled around the creatures face. Atop its own head, lay two long ears with black tips and painted onto its cheeks were two red sacks of encased lightning. A zig zag pattern of brown ran down its back and a large, bolt shaped tail shot off its body. Small 5 digit hands and 3 digit feet ended the look. The yellow rodent blinked once before its face broke out into a content smile as it leapt swiftly out the bag and into its trainers gloved hands.

'Hey buddy, sleep well?' The teen asked, his voice horse and breaking as he spoke due to his body not yet being used to his deeper voice.

'Pika!' The Pokémon responded, shutting his eyes in order to block out the snow. Or to look cute. Or both.

His trainer let out a laugh before he continued to walk down the mountain with his companion happily sitting on his shoulder.

'You know what Pikachu?' He asked suddenly, causing the Pokémon to turn his head toward his trainer, signalling for him to continue.

'Do you,' he paused,' Do you think that I am making the right choice?' Pikachu sighed before nodding his head, albeit very slowly.

'Yeah, you're right.' The trainer responded, before becoming quiet and foreboding again, allowing his companion to rest on his shoulder while he trekked through the winter wilderness. After passing the same gust of wind for the 10th time or the same patch of grounded cloud-cover for the 20th time, and angel broke through the fog at the end of the never-ending tunnel, forcing light that had erupted from its halo onto the teen and his partner: the bright hue significantly lighting up their tired and weary bodies.

The Pikachu turned towards his Master, able to see his face better due to unknown light source. Over the years, he really had developed into a handsome young man. His eyes still held their black outline and blue outburst of neon light but it was dimmed and regular colour was starting to rip at the darkness, forcing various colours of white and grey through the tears while a steady chocolate brown was starting to melt its way back into his iris'. Messy raven black hair covered most of his fore head, sticking there like the trainers skin was the last hope of survival for these strands of ashen thread. His jaw was sharp and his mouth, although covered, was set into an almost constant straight line. What worried Pikachu the most, and had since him and his companion had travelled to the Mountain 5 years ago, was the pale skin that covered his body, only odd scribbles such as the zig zag lines under his cheek which had been cut and scratched, were contrasting to the skin and even they were hard to tell apart from the other scars that littered his cloth covered body.

The loud snapping sound of fingers clicking bought the young Pokémon back from his day dream. Turning back to look ahead of him, the Pikachu's face lit up as they got closer and closer to the light source, revealing itself to be a large cave with a beautiful pool filled with other Pokémon in the centre. As they entered through the rather small passage way, Pikachu saw water types neae the clear, crystal water reflecting onto the rocky and jagged ceiling above: Blastoise and Feraligatr splashed and played around the sides of the pool, still retaining their playful attitudes from their youth, Kingler and Crawdaunt clashed claws near the banks, sending small sparks flying into the water and causing them to fizzle out, Floatzel had his arms crossed and a bored expression painted on his face as Samurott tried to explain a story to him, Seismitoad sat quietly conversing with Lapras, who was sat with her front fins on land, and out of the corner of Pikachu's eye, he saw Greninja hanging from a broken mass of rocks on the ceiling.

Turning his attention towards the centre of the pool, the small yellow mouse noted the large mass of plain, smooth ice that spurted from the centre and attacked the sounding water. On top of the layer of ice lay Glalie, who lay happy and content with his eyes shut at the centre of the ice-water massacre. Letting out a sigh, Pikachu shifted his gaze to above the pool and to the area around Greninja. Here flew most of his trainers flying types: Pigeot and Swellow flew fast around the whole exterior of the cave, locked in a sort-of speed tie, Noctowl and Staraptor watched on as the constant flow of air ruffled their feathers, Talonflame sat perched on an outward piece of shifted rock that splintered from the ceiling while having a rather heated conversation with Noivern, who was flying around the fire type bird. On the ground, sat the rest of his trainers flying types who didn't want to fly: these spots belonged to Unfezant and Hawlucha.

Off in the furthest corner of the lay all the grass, bug and normal type Pokémon, evident by the grassy patch of land and the small patches of sun light breaking through the sky and into the cave. Tortera was being used as a pillow by some other Pokémon, which he didn't really mind, Serpirior was curled around the tree on Tortera's back while Leavanny sat at the top of the massive rock on the beast, threading, and Ambipom, Heracross and Butterfree happily conversed on the big creature's massive mossy spine. Snorlax lay against him while he slept, and the one remaining Tarous that his trainer hadn't released was snuggled up against his stomach, while Meganium and Sceptile stood guard around the perimeter, waiting for their master. Venasaur had taken up refuge with Blastoise and Feraligatr.

On the opposite side of them, was a more volcanic environment where fire types, rock types and dragon types flourished due to the hotter temperatures. Torkoal and Donphan were lounging around by the hotter areas of rock, Typhlosion and Infernape were practicing battle techniques with Primape and against each other, Gliscor was happily gliding from one rock to another, a smile constantly tugging at his lips, Garchomp was calmly walking around the pools of hot rocks and magma, Emboar and Scrafty were laughing and chuckling at Krookadile, who was trying to get Gigalith's attention, and Goodra was nattering away with Muk at the edge of the heat.

Dragging his big, black buttons away from the bustling sight of his friends, Pikachu looked up to see a large, orange dragon lumbering toward him and his trainer. Bowing his head towards the teen, Charizard let the boy rub his neck and orange wings before nodding to the beast. Locking his eyes shut, Pikachu waited for the inevitable as Charizard let out a roar that shook the very earth, earning the attention of every type in the area. After directing their own eyes towards the roar, each Pokémon started to come towards the edge of the pool, where the trainer was positioned. Some notable creatures, mainly Meganium and Gliscor, went up to the boy and nuzzled their heads against his chest.

Letting out a laugh, the boy looked up at his collection of friends and allies. Pulling down his hood and bandanna, he let out a sigh before taking something out of his pocket. Then he started talking.

'Hello everyone. Sorry for the long wait, me and Pikachu had to climb to the top of the mountain to receive the message I sensed,' he started, seeing all the creatures nodding,' but what I found up there was special: it was from Mr. Goodshow.' Many of his team members looked excited as they hadn't heard from the man in about 3 years.

'Ahem, I, Mr. Goodshow, send this invitation to one Ash Ketchum of Kanto,' he started in his best impression of the man, causing some Pokémon to let out a chuckle or a smile,' to come to the Tournament of Champions held in Kalos this month. You have been acknowledged as one of the best fighters in all of the Pokémon world, now prove that you are the best their ever will be. Rewards include 100 million Pokedollars and title of 'Pokémon Legend', up there above the Champions. I hope you attend.' He let out a chuckle before reading the next bit.

'P.S: It's good to know that you are still alive, Ash, I hope my Pidgey got to you. '

'So then,' he continued with a white, toothy grin,' who's ready to take the world by storm?' At the statement every Pokémon in the area let out a battle-cry of confidence. With a laugh, Ash retrieved each Pokeball from his bag, with the exception of Pikachu and Charizard. Turning to face them, he asked the all-important question that he had asked them 5 years ago, although no tear tracks stained his face this time.

'You ready to leave home?'

* * *

Off the coast of Kalos, lay an island of beaches and parties, of battle and reward: and of regret and betrayal. On this island, were the old friends of Ash Ketchum? A small group stood by the now empty train tracks, a group of 5 girls. One wore her bright orange hair in a shaggy, short style, showing off her forest green eyes. Her skin was pale and she wore a long white overcoat above a white and teal swimming outfit. A pair of sandals rested on her feet. She was 18 year old Misty Waterflower of Kanto and the Gym Leader of Cerulean City.

Beside her sat 17 year old May Maple, Pokemon Co-ordinator and 'Princess of Hoenn'. A green and white bandanna covered her dark brown hair that parted at her forehead, letting the world see her beautiful sea blue eyes. A black collar was snapped shut around her neck and lead down into a sleeveless, orange shirt with a green belt. Black and white gloves rested on her hands and black bike shorts wrapped themselves tightly around her legs, ending in some matching black and white trainers.

Standing behind her, was another Co-ordinator by the name of Dawn Berlitz. A white and pink beanie was painted almost permanently on her long, dark blue hair. Light grey eyes fitted her small face but half of it was covered by a white scarf that lead to a fluffy red, overcoat. White socks lay under pink boots. She was also 17.

Next to her was 17 year old Iris Cuasorome, from the Unova region. Wild purple hair, only contained by a yellow band, outlined her dark skin and dark orange eyes. Two tendrils of light travelled down from the back of neck and down to her arms, covered by white sleeves from her dress: red bows and other sections of colour were fitted onto the cloth. On her feet, were sandals similar to her friend, Misty's. She was the gym leader of Dragons in Unova.

Finally, stood next to her was 17 year old Serena Yvonne, another Pokémon Co-ordinator. A pink hat sat perched on a bed of short honey blonde hair. Aquamarine eyes stood out like lights and a red waist coat hung over her body, with a pink dress underneath. A small blue bow was tied around her chest, and black socks trailed up her legs from brown boots.

They were all friends. And they all liked Ash Ketchum: who had been missing for 5 years.

The sounds of footfall were heard, bringing all 5 girls back from their thoughts. In front of them stood Delia Ketchum, the mother of the boy they all liked.

'Come on girls, I filled out all the forms and we are ready to go to the hotel.' She spoke in a happy, but masked voice. All of the girls smiled back, but they too also masked sadness. They had heard that sentence countless times over 5 years.

5 years ago, they met, whether it be for the first, or second time, and admitted their feelings for the same boy.

5 years ago, they told his mother, and she was happy.

5 years ago, they were going to throw a party for him when he got back from the Kalos League and tell him their feelings when he got back.

5 years ago, he ran away.

Ever since then, they travelled to every major tournament to try and find him and they had been unsuccessful so far. Standing up and walking side by side out of the station, they bathed in the light that shone down on them from the setting Heavens, the sun taking the last leg pf its journey across the sky. Taking a look around them, they noticed people of all kinds staring at them: after-all, they were all famous. Many asked for autographs or pictures, but they had to excuse themselves. Picking up their pace, all 5 girls gave each other a sheepish smile before entering the Pokémon Centre reserved for Tournament participants.

The Centre itself was built into the wall of a cliff was they couldn't see how large it actually was from the outside, but inside it was massive! The hall where all the meetings and healing took place was at least 3 times the size of a regular centre,with an exit to 3 halls of rooms on the left, right and at the back of the room. From where they were standing, they could see that there were 2 Nurse Joys at this establishment. Looking around, they only noticed a few gym-leaders that they knew and a few other contestants.

However, one group called them over that they had secretly hoped wasn't there.

Gary, Drew, Paul, Trip, Max and all of Ash's old rivals.

'Hey Sis', over here.' Max shouted with a wide grin.

'Yeah, get your asses over here.' Drew yelled with a smirk.

'Hm.' Paul muttered.

'I'll, uh, go register you for the Tournament.' Delia mentioned before taking their Pokedexs from them and going to the main desk.

Sighing, the 5 walked over, VERY SLOWLY, towards the group. They were the reason that Ash was gone, THEY WERE THE REASON WHY HE GAVE UP! They hated them so much, but they couldn't leave them: they just couldn't.

As they got over there, they saw one of the only redeeming factor of the group: the Kalos group. Bonnie and Clemont were there, as well as Shauna, Tierno and Trevor. Serena smiled and immediately ran up to them, being enveloped in a hug by Bonnie, who now 13, and Shauna, both was knowing her the longest out of the group. The rest started to make their way over, but were stopped by the rest.

'Hey girls. Come over here and talk for a bit.' Drew said, pointing to his lap, signifying that one of them should sit on his lap.

'Yeah let's talk.' Gary said as smug as Drew.'

'Where's Brock?' Misty snapped. He was the other good person in this group.

'Nowhere.' Paul replied, coldly.

'Then we won't be joining you.' Iris said back, before they continued over to Serena.

'Hey guys,' May said to the group.

'HELLO!' Bonnie practically yelled. After a few minutes of conversation, they heard the front doors open and once again, everyone turned their heads. But this one, was intriguing.

He wore black from head to toe, with hints of red and white on a hoodie under his jacket, and on his shoes. He looked like he had come from some sort of formal event, evident by the dress shirt and tie, but he wore a cap, hood and bandanna so… he was an odd one. But what caught everyone's eyes, was the Pikachu on his shoulder. It had buried its head into the trainer's neck, in order for it to remain hidden from prying eyes. This lead people to see his eyes: some gasped, others leaned forward with intrigue, but most couldn't see them. The girls and their group did. They saw voids of darkness, the centre filled by a vast circle of water that lit up when his head moved.

Taking a step forward, the trainer walked past the people asking him questions and up to the front desk, right next to Delia. When they got next to her, the Pikachu buried his head even deeper into his trainer's neck, causing concern to appear in his trainer's eyes as he put a gloved hand to his partner's face, while the other reached into his pocket for his Pokedex. Passing it over to the second Nurse Joy, she scanned it before her mouth fell open in shock. She pointed to her co-worker, to which the trainer nodded. She showed her partner the information and the same expression passed her face. But then the boy put a single finger to his lips. The two sister quickly nodded before giving him a room key.

The girls were so entranced by this boy, that they didn't feel Drew sneak up behind them. He walked over behind May, and slapped her on the ass. Hard.

The noise was loud and drew the duo a lot of attention. May was red faced and furious. She turned round and slapped him in the face.

'What the fuck Drew!'

'Nothing.' He rubbed his cheek, still smirking. Many of his companions just laughed, while everyone else was fuming.

Serena had heard the slap and the commotion, but was still staring intently at the new trainer, who had turned his head towards their direction before his eyes lit up in white hot fury, turning red to match his hood. His hands reached for his partner who struggled around a bit before giving up and letting him take hold. He passed his Pikachu to Delia, who took hold of him, before looking back at the trainer.

Slowly, the newcomer started to walk towards their group. The boys group took note of this and started to try and talk to Drew, who was getting yelled at by May and smirking the whole time. Reaching their group, all eyes in the Centre fell on him.

One look.

Before all hell broke loose.

* * *

Outside the centre, people were waiting to meet their favourite celebrities, but out of the doors flew Hoenn Co-ordinator Drew. Some fans were happy to see him, but fell into disarray when they saw him with a bloody nose and missing teeth.

Gasps were heard when a trainer with a white dress shirt and loose tie, wearing a black and white cap walked out with red iris' burning with Satan's wrath itself as he walked towards the Co-ordinator. Behind him, was a black jacket and red hoodie.

Slowly backing up, Drew had a look of fear cast on his face as the trainer got closer, fist lit up with red light in the shape of claws that looked sharp and cut straight from the Hell's molten rock. Picking the scared Co-ordinator by the collar, the teen smashed him pretty little face into the concrete below him before kicking him half way down the street.

Tumbling down the road, Drew felt consciousness leaving him but that disappeared when he felt his teeth rubbing across cement, as the boy light-stepped down the hill before smashing his face into a near-by building.

By this point, many had gathered around to see world famous Drew get bested by this… newbie.

Dropping the bloody and broken boy, the trainer muttered only a few words, but all filled with enough venom to kill.

'Never touch her or any of them ever again. Or you will die.' He said calmly. Turning back around and walking back towards the centre, spectators parted like the Red Sea when he came near them, even more when a group of boys followed by a group of medics pooled out the centre towards Drew. Walking through the doors and into the centre, the trainer picked up the pieces of cloth from the floor, but not without his bandanna falling off. Only a few got to see him, most notably Delia, but those that did got the shock of their lives.

The black had escaped into the abyss, replaced with white. The blue had evaporated into a calm brown. There stood Ash Ketchum, gone for 5 years only to come here and hide his identity.

Unfortunately, he quickly retied it and his eyes returned to their old hue. Looking up, his eyes narrowed before softening and going over to the women with his Pikachu, who was now letting the tears fall freely from her face. The boy took his Pokémon back before whispering something in her ear, making her open her eyes wide and nod her head fast. With that he started to walk away, but not before May spoke.

'What… what did you do?'

'Go and have a look.' He replied, although not cold and calm but soft, and peaceful, unlike what he was implying.

'We will but what's your name?' Dawn spoke up, interested to know who this person was.

'First Match.' Was all he said before retiring to his room. They all assume that they would find out later at the first matches in two days' time. And when the door to the rooms had shut, Delia collapsed and started to cry uncontrollably into her hands. The five girls ran over to her and tried to ask her what happened and why she was crying but Delia simply shook her head and said that she couldn't say. They all started to get suspious but then Drew got rolled in… on a stretcher.

Every eye in the room was on the broken trainer, battered and bruised. Some gasped, others laughed but the girls just looked on in a mixture of both awe and shock. A random boy, who they didn't know had just beat up one of their biggest problems to near death. They were speechless.

After that whole incident, all trainers were reported to go to their rooms and wait for further instructions. Fortunately, Delia had gotten all 5 girls a shared room while she had got a single. This gave them their privacy and their time for girl talk.

But talk they did not do. Instead they sat there still stunned by today's events.

Soon enough, Iris spoke. 'Do any of you know him?'

They all shook their heads. 'With a look like that, I'd definitely remember him.' Misty said.

The group let out a small chuckle, but not Serena. Dawn turned her head towards the girl.

'What's up?'

'Did any of you see that Pikachu?' She asked quietly.

Then they all got it.

Then they all felt the same way.

Then they all thought about how small the chances were.

But there was still a chance, small as it was.

The Pikachu, the clothing choice, his reactions. All signs pointed towards one boy. A boy that they all loved. A boy named Ash Ketchum. They quickly shook their heads of the thought, tears on the edge of their eyes. All looked at each other before they all changed and headed off to bed.

None of them slept all that well.

* * *

 **Hello again! So, what did you think? I don't know… but anyway. Thank you for reading my story and stay tuned for updates that will come out at the most monthly: I know it's bad and I will try to get them out weekly but I have school and all that crap. Yes, school sucks I know. And relating to the rating: it is M for later scenes, not only sexual scenes but violent scenes as well. Also, the betrayal part will be put in later in short segments at the start of each chapter to, you know, build up tension and stuff. Anyways, thank you once more and I will finish off with the list of people in the harem so far:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Annabel**

 **Leave who you want in the comments! THANK YOU AGAIN!**

 **-Jack, thanks you again, again.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! Jack here again and… wow. So many of you guys have checked out my story and I have got excellent feedback. Now, before I continue, I will answer the questions posed in the reviews:**

 **Sneak13579: Um… Okay that is a lot of people but I will try and see what I can do. And no, I am sorry, no Delia.**

 **Espeon44: Yep, sure I will.**

 **LonelySoul935: Okay, thanks for the feedback, I will do! And regarding the betrayal, it won't have to do with Ash's old friends telling him to give up on being a Pokémon Master, but something else. You'll see in a bit.**

 **BigInferno: That is fine with me!**

 **Guest: Sure, I can add her.**

 **Mavb50: I'll see what I can do with the people you provided, thanks!**

 **ElectricEdd: I will do.**

 **TravelingMan93: Thanks for the feedback, once again I will try and do the quotation marks thing, and sure send an OC my way, I'll look over it and see where it should fit in, or if you have a story for them, send it in. By the way, you can send in OC's if you want, not forcing you.**

 **Hellfire45: Thanks… and that will be revealed later on along with the betrayal backstory.**

 **Now I want to thank some people: Espeon44, Antheys17, TheAssassin2121, LonelySoul935, JeffHardy5666, Hogwarts-Wizard, Benikaze, Misfits55, BigInferno, Spider-Man999, TheGoldenBoss, BranStar50, 12, Guest, TravellingMan93, Sneak13579, Mavb50, ElectricEdd, Petty-Officer Sierra, 1** **st** **Horseman, NarutoChihasenju4185, DragonOfChallenges, Dark-Ags, Turbo Shadow, and Hellfire45.**

 **These people have either favorited or followed the story and I just wanted to give them their spotlight!**

 **Now onto the chapter!**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Telepathy- ' **Go Pikachu'**.

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

 _A young boy of about 13 was playing around with his Pokémon. His clothes were ripped and his skin was marked but he didn't care, all he cared about was he Pokémon and their wellbeing. A small yellow rodent hung off his shoulder as he ran around with his Bayleaf and Oshawott. The other Pokémon stared at them with a happy glint in their eyes, all of them pleased to have such a loving trainer, even if he was their second._

 _His name was Ash Ketchum and he had just lost the Kalos League. But he didn't care. He had new friends, new allies, new Pokémon that he would spend his whole life with, if they let it be so. So he didn't care, and neither did his human friends._

 _He had just travelled with a boy called Clemont, who was an electric type gym leader, his sister who was called Bonnie, and a girl that he had known since he was about 5. Serena._

 _His feet stopped moving as he started to think about her. Her honey blonde hair, whether long or short, always covered by a straw pink hat. Her clothing choices always meant something, and gave him some sort of satisfaction when he looked at her. She was beautiful. She took care of her Pokémon. She had a pretty laugh. She had…_

 _His thoughts were interrupted by his small yellow friend, who had been poking at his red stained cheeks._

" _Knock it off, buddy. I was just thinking.' He answered his companion with a broad smile on his lips._

" _Pika!" His companion replied with a similar smile._

" _Okay everyone, I'm going to head back home! See you tomorrow!" he shouted at his friends. They all replied with battle cries directed at the young teenager. A small chuckle left his lips, before he waved and walked out of Professor Oaks Lab._

 _Ash was silent as he walked down the hill that he had walked down so many times before. But now he was deep in thought. He was thinking about everyone he had travelled with. Brock, Tracy, Max, Cilan, Clemont, Bonnie. Then his thoughts wandered to 5 girls._

 _Misty Waterflower._

 _May Maple._

 _Dawn Berlitz._

 _Iris Cuasorome._

 _Serena Yvonne._

 _These 5 girls had made such a large dent in his life. And he had trouble thinking about them without his cheeks bursting out into a blazing heat, matched only by the hottest fire types._

 _Misty, the tom-boy water type gym-leader, her 'Just Do it, and Do it Now!' attitude resonated with Ash, who had thrown himself off so many towers or buildings or whatever without a second thought. He always liked her hair, but after a video call with her when he was in Kalos, he saw that she ahd changed her entire look: her hair was short and shaggy and fitted her pale skin and lithe face just right, her yellow top, red suspenders and blue short shorts were gone and had been replaced by a lean one-piece swimming suit and white over coat. And throughout that whole call, Ash though about one thing: she is really, really pretty now._

 _Then there was May, the girl who changed from a world traveller to Pokémon lover and Co-ordinator, but she was also the girl who hit puberty too damn early: her mood swings were death to Ash, Max and Brock. He had always liked her, she had that spunk that he liked in a person. What he didn't account for, was her change of appearance when they met up in Sinnoh about a year and a-half ago. Her new outfit was perfect for her, hugged her in all the right places and looked just right for all the travelling and such that she was doing. But for Ash, it had been a struggle to get through that weekend without his cheeks exploding from built up heat._

 _Thinking about Sinnoh, drew his mind to Dawn. She was a girly girl through, and through. She loved dresses and other things like that but what caught Ash's eye, was her attention to Pokémon. She trained her Pokémon just as much as May or Misty, but it was her motivation that spurred them on because, let's be honest, she had the hardest team to master. And when they had called each other in Unova, after she had left, he saw her in a fetching red coat and changed beanie. She had said that it was for cold protection, but Ash didn't really care: she looked stunning._

 _Making his mind focus on Unova made him think about Iris. She had grown up, determined to be a great dragon master. She also had an outlandish attitude but had an annoying tendency of calling Ash a 'Little Kid' even though he was a year older than her. He hadn't seen her personally since he left Unova but had learned that she had managed to become the Dragon Village's gym leader. But what caught Ash off-guard was her outfit: she was wearing a dress? And heels? And she looked good in them?_

 _He quickly shock his head clear of every one of those thoughts. These girls had great looks and even better personalities but he won't ruin anything by saying something stupid. Taking a gaze up at the setting sun, the colours erupting across the blue expanse, Ash noticed that he had reached his destination: his home, the one he shared with his mother, Delia._

 _He was about to open the door to his house when something pinged in his mind, it was almost like a sonar: he could see everyone inside the house and what they were saying. Ash almost fell over his own two feet as the landscape changed and it became a dark blue similar to the distorted dimension but with people and Pokémon lighting up a light blue._

 _Shutting his eyes and willing it away, Ash opened his eyes to reveal a normal world, but not before turning to the windows at his door, able to catch a glance of blue dissipating from his irises, returning them to a chocolate brown. He took a look at Pikachu, he noticed the small mouse in a state of shock similar to his own._

' _Judging from the colours and my eyes, I guess it has something to do with my aura…' Ash thought before closing his eyes again, returning to the realm of blue. A smile tugged at his lips, but then he zoned in on the people that he could see. Inside were Gary, Misty, Brock, Tracy, May, Max, Drew, Dawn, Barry, Kenny, Paul, Iris, Cilan, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie with no sign of his mom. But what caught his attention was what they, mainly Brock and Gary, were talking about: Ash's dad._

* * *

Peeling the skin away from his eyes, Ash opened his eyes to reveal a white ceiling with a single light at the centre. Darkness ebbed away at the surrounding area, obscuring most things from his normal view. Rubbing his eyes tired of the sleep that had kept him hostage, the 18 year old supported himself on his elbows as he started to get up.

"The same fucking dream." He muttered to himself, before he took a look to his right to see a very tired Pikachu staring at him with both eyes nearly shut.

"Pika Pi." He muttered before collapsing on the soft sheets again. Letting out a chuckle as he forced himself out of the very comfortable bed, he wandered over to the curtains before opening one, allowing the light that had been trapped behind the fabric free and into the room, illuminating his surroundings.

But this also interrupted his friends nap time.

Letting a yawn fly free from his throat, Pikachu stared at Ash with the same half shut eyes, but these black circles held fury. Casually shrugging his shoulders, Ash made his way to the bathroom after retrieving his clothes from the wardrobe.

Before he threw on the pieces of cloth and denim, however, Ash took time to gaze up and down at his form. He had developed muscles that weren't bulging, but were clearly noticeable, from training sessions with his Pokémon. His hair was still an ashen grey but was messy and unkempt: luckily his hat and hood hid most of it from spectators. His skin was pale and scared, contrasting to his younger form that was tan and clean. A sigh escaped his lips before he put his clothes on.

After putting on his regular attire, Ash made his way out of the door, picked up Pikachu, who was still tired and half-asleep, and walked into the corridor. After closing his door, Ash took time to evaluate his surroundings. Luckily no one was out as he took great care in getting out of bed before anyone else. Walking casually down the halls, Ash's aura pinged so he changed into his self-dubbed Aura Sense and saw that he had been put in the hall where most of the girls resided: great.

As he kept walking, Ash noticed that the rooms got bigger and bigger to hold more people, and soon he began to get uncomfortable with who he was staying with. For a start, his was the only rom for one person and was at the very end of the hall, making him look special. He wasn't special… yet.

Next to his room was a room built for 3 people and those 3 people were Kanto gym leaders Erika, Janine and Sabrina. From this, he guessed that every gym leader from each region was split into 2 groups, male and female, then put into one room. He saw that Erika was sleeping, but Janine was talking to Sabrina in a very hushed tone. He wasn't going to pry into the discussion between the psychic and the ninja so he kept walking at a regular pace until he saw Sabrina look at where he was standing so he walked a little faster.

Next to them was the Johto leaders Whitney, Jasmine and Clair. Clair was swimming in the pool that every room came equipped with but her aura was disjointed and restless. Meanwhile Whitney and Jasmine were talking about boys or Pokémon or boys with Pokémon so he just continued walking again.

Then came the Hoenn gym leaders Roxanne, Flannery, Winona and Liza, he thought that it was weird that Liza and Tate were separated but didn't pry into it. All 4 were changing so he picked up his pace very quickly as to avoid staring at them.

As he guessed, next was Sinnoh and there was Gardenia, Maylene and Candice. He wondered when Fatina wasn't there… then he remembered that it was Fatina. All of them were talking about stuff he didn't really care about so he continued with his day.

Next was Unova and Elesa, Roxie and Skyla. Elesa was complaining to Roxie about her music while Skyla was feeding some flying types. He smiled at their conflicting attitudes, before packing up and walking to the last bit of the hallway.

Finally, there was Violeta, Korrina, Valerie and Olympia. He may not have known them all that long, but they were all good people. They were also talking to each other while Olympia was acting very motherly towards the group of friends.

But there was one room that Ash purposely skipped over. It was a room with 5 girls.

Calmly walking out of the corridor, Ash walked up to the Nurse Joy he saw yesterday. As he was coming over, he saw her turn her head towards him.

"Hi there, Ash." She said.

"Hi Joy. Can I ask you something?" He said, looking over his shoulder to check if anyone heard her.

"Sure, go right ahead."

"Well my question is… why have I been put where most of the female populous will be staying?"

"Why, does it bother you?" She asked back with a smirk, causing his face to turn red under his bandanna.

"What? No, no, no. It's just that I wanted to know… Yea." He said, suddenly taking interest in the wall.

"If you have to know, that was the last room." She replied.

"Yea… sure. I've got to go so bye." He said quickly as he sensed a lot of people coming out of their rooms. As soon as he left, the sister of the Joy turned to her and said,

"You know that there are 5 other rooms, right?"

"Yea, I just like to see some drama." Her sister replied with a smirk.

* * *

 **Hi there, sorry that this chapter is so short, I have to do some school work and I wanted to reply to the feedback I received so, yea. Anyways, I have put together a list of the characters in Ash's harem but I needed to cut down on some people so here is the list:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Anabel**

 **Cynthia**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Now, I will be going up to about 12 girls in total so there are 3 spots left: and I want you guys to tell me who you want. I will give it a week and at the end I will tell you who has won. Every girl is available for choosing so go ahead and vote I you want. Again, sorry fort eh shorter chapter but I promise, next chapter will be about 10,000 words long, I promise so look forward to that. Once again, again, thank you for reading!**

 **P.S I did edit this on the 13th of October due because I looked over the selection again, and noticed that there were simply too many girls. I am so sorry if your character didn't get picked but I will try to get every character suggested to do something, maybe with Ash, maybe not, I don't know. Thanks for understanding!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everybody and welcome back! Thank you for commenting. Now I will answers some questions asked last chapter:**

 **Espeon44: If it goes that far, then yes, Ash will have kids with the girls. And thank you for the OC.**

 **Rams34: I think that he will so that the readers can get to know the girls better in a one-to-one environment.**

 **LonelySoul935: Thanks! And don't worry, he won't be Ash's father.**

 **TravellingMan93: Thank you for the OC but can you send me some details on what he looks like please, I don't want to choose what your character looks like.**

 **Guest (No name stated): Thanks for the feedback! And yes, Legendries will be involved but you will find out more next chapter…**

 **Red the Pokémon Master: Thank you and… ok? Sure!**

 **DemonicStories: Thank you for the help and the suggestions!**

 **Aurora Wesker Fox: Got to mix it up somehow…**

 **Stallion6: Thanks, I guess?**

 **DonutMatter: Thank you but I don't think I deserve that much praise…**

 **MidnightRebellion86: Thank you for the feedback and the OC.**

 **Quickly, I want to thank Merc9136, ScottD92, XVenomX159, McShaka87, Raven1986, OptiMusk, Crofty666, FirstLast123, Red the Pokémon Master, JchElton88tc, , DarkAuraMaster, CuteSaralisa, SteveXClaw, Jace Cither, 0ZeroOMegaOuroboros, NarutoHarem123, Duke Drake, Scaler91, BlueEclipse395, Axc-O, Aurora Wesker Fox, ZeromRock, BoomingMaster, DemonicStories, Razor200972, SandMan001, The-Most-Holy-Ogre, AshKetchumDarkSide, Ky Karno, ToonLink13, MidnightRebellion86, Danny. , JazalGoldMane, Clones501, Beast94, Cjf05, Draph91,HootieRickyRoza and BlazeStromm22, Batman1998, Pharotand, Smeng15, .75, Revolution of 1776 and KalahNikow for following and favourite-ting.**

 **Also want to say thank you to everyone who sent in a suggestion for the harem! Now let's get on with Chapter 3!**

 **S** peech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

" _God dammit Gary. For the last time, Ash is nothing like his father." Brock spoke in a hushed tone towards his companion, Gary Oak. The two were talking about their friend Ash Ketchum's father. He, personally, had not known his father and nobody had told him anything about him, apart from the fact that he had been a trainer. Had been._

 _Gary started to speak._

" _But what if he is? Hm, Brock, what if he is like that monster of a man? You know how that weird, creepy aura shit works, don't you? About how the traits pass down from parents to their children? Well, his was destructive, deadly, and capable of levelling cities so what happens when Ash gains that trait? You said it yourself, dammit, he already unlocked his aura in Hoenn and it has been growing… the best thing to do is-"_

" _Kill the bastard." Drew said in an off-hand comment._

" _Shut the fuck up, rose boy!" Gary said, his voice laced in venom due to what he was implying. "Do you know what would happen if we even attempted something like that?"_

 _Drew simply flicked his hair and said, "Then May would be mine. Simple as."_

 _Everybody in the room let out a sigh at his stupid idea. Once again, Brock stepped up to speak._

" _Is it really worth it? Doing all of this? You want him to drop everything and leave because of his father?" He said, calmly._

 _A chime rang through the air, signalling that Gary had received a text message. He read it before he stated._

" _Not because of his father, Brock. It's because of Ash." He took a deep breath._

" _He will kill us all, don't you understand?!" Gary suddenly exploded from his seat, face to face with the older gym-leader._

" _Yea, he is a monster that needs to be irradiated." Paul muttered just loud enough so that he could be heard._

" _The dumb bastard would probably kill himself if he knew how much of a liability he was to everyone, and that would make our jobs a whole lot easier." Drew sniggered._

 _Everyone in the room, minus Brock and Cilan, laughed and agreed with the Hoenn native. Bonnie and Clemont were in the kitchen: what Gary and the others were saying was upsetting the small girl and so her brother took her out for a bit._

 _Brock was about to speak, when a loud banging bought everyone's heads towards the door. Behind it they heard a scream and 4 different pitched voices saying the same word._

" _ASH!"_

* * *

 _Brock_ slowly opened his thin eyes, sunlight breaking through the cracks in the skin. It forced him to awaken and signalled a new day: the day that he would arrive at the Contest of Champions as head cook. After he went off to pursue his dreams of becoming a Pokémon breeder, Brock left the gym in the hands of his eldest-younger brother, Forest. He was quite formidable, and the Pewter City gym had been harder to conquer since he took the role.

The man let a smile cross his features before he practically leapt from his bed and ran over to his wardrobe to obtain his clothes. Looking down at the clothes in his possession, he decided to go simple and wore his old gym-leader gear: a long-sleeved, dull orange shirt with dark olive cargo pants and simple bronze trainers, with black soles. As an added addition, he wore a simple black watch on his left wrist.

Smiling at his attire, Brock walked over to his balcony that he received with his room. Gazing out at the rolling mountains of water, he noticed a small island of green and yellow off in the distance. Putting one hand under his head, he stood there, content and happy with how life had gone.

Well, kind of how life went.

Brock gritted his teeth as he tried to block the memory out of his head: Ash was gone, and it was his fault. He didn't stop Gary, or Drew, or Paul, or Barry, or Kenny… or Ash. The picture that was painted that day had forcefully imprinted itself into his mind, the last time he saw Ash Ketchum in real life: and he saw him as a monster.

Deciding that now was a good time for some extra rest, Brock hiked back to his room, each step weighed down by his un-breakable guilt and sorrow. He really missed Ash. He knew of many of people who met Ash. He knew of people that wanted to tell Ash many things… and they wouldn't get the chance because of him.

Crashing down onto the soft mattress, Brock let his eyes slowly fall shut, thinking about what he could have done differently.

* * *

Walking out of the Pokémon Centre, Ash looked around to make sure that no-one had seen him with Nurse Joy, or heard who he really was. Letting out a soft sigh, the boy began to shift his feet down the street as his mind began to wander.

'Is the day of the Tournament really a good day to tell everyone who I am?' He thought, bringing his hands into his pockets after pulling his cap downwards more to obscure his eyes. Shaking his head from left-to-right, he let that thought drain out of his ears.

'Of course I need to, I promised mom after all…' Eyes of brown fell to floor, observing every feature until a small yellow hand tugged at the cloth encasing his mouth. Casting his thoughts away from him, Ash turned to face his partner.

He stood on his hind legs and looked at Ash with worry and concern in his still tired eyes.

"Don't worry about me, buddy. Go back to sleep." A gloved palm made contact with Pikachu's head, sending him into a small purring fit, nuzzling against his hand and sending small sparks dancing up his veins. After he removed his hand, Ash gave him one last look of 'I'm fine' before he started walking again, feeling the weight on his shoulder increase due to the rodent curling up on the flesh covered bone.

Deciding to cast his eyes to the ocean, Ash noticed a boat not too far off in the distance: if he was not mistaken, then it was a luxury cruiser to carry important figures like gym-leaders or champions. He was tempted to use his aura to figure out who was on there, but decided against it as, hey, surprises are better.

While he looked at the calm, morning blue, a pair of brown eyes found themselves drawn to the near empty beach. Finding that enticing, Ash decided that he would like to feel the sand while he was here. Taking his shoes and socks off of his feet, he pressed one foot into the hot, golden sands, sending thousands of grains collapsing into the man-made pit. He continued this until he reached the ocean.

The water felt relaxing and cold on his toes, his nerves were setting themselves alight with the sudden change in temperature and density. Letting out a shudder, Ash decided that he was going to have fun on this trip: he was here to battle and he hadn't done that properly in over 5 years.

Then it dawned on him… 'I've been gone for 5 years.'

Up high on Mt. Silver, the cold and the haze had always clouded his judgment, made him lose his perception on time. The only indication was the ever changing sky and even that was covered by cloud most nights so he hadn't really thought much of it. And it wasn't like he had to worry about everyday essentials: he had shelter, he learned how to make and find food on snowy climates from Brock, his Pokémon helped him out with the cooking, the cleaning of his clothes, re-sewing his clothes when he got too rough during practice, heating up the place, producing some sort of light and being his friends.

But that was all he had: don't get him wrong, they were great friend, and he had shared so many good times with them up on that cold piece of risen rock, such as when one of them evolved, which they had all done by this point. And he wouldn't trade any of those moments for anything… but he really lacked human contact, human interaction, and human love.

Yes, he thought about certain girls now and again but he would just shake away the feeling and go training or something, because it was never that difficult, due to the fact that he was about 100 miles away from them at any one time. But now, they were here and he couldn't avoid them: he already let his rage absorb his entire being when Drew touched May, so what was he going to do to anyone else who tried it? They were all still very beautiful women and he knew he couldn't stop every comment or touch but they are strong enough by themselves, right?

Damn, thinking about this made his head hurt.

* * *

Red rings hung high over black and purple lines on all 5 girls faces when they woke up. They all gave each other a stern, yet comforting and understanding look before sitting down on the rugged and soft carpet.

Once they all touched the rug, all eyes fell to the floor, everyone unable to account for the irritated skin around each teen's eye that had been caused by restless fits of crying throughout the night. After a few moments, Dawns voice broke through the lifeless air.

'So… I guess that you had trouble sleeping as well, huh?' She asked with innocence and compassion in her voice, but none of the girls wanted that right now. All they wanted was a certain missing boy.

'Yea.' Was all that anyone could muster. Today was going to be a very long day.

Glancing at their bedside clock, Iris noted that it was already 7:00, around the time when the other Gym-leaders started to get up. Looking at her companions, Iris spoke in a playful tone to try and

'It's time to hit the showers, I think. After all, we do have that party later today…'

Everyone's heads rolled round to meet her gaze before they stood up and made their way over to the shared showers in the dorm. In all the chaos, they had almost forgot about the party being held later on tonight for tournament participants.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached the showers. It wasn't too big, or too small and had room for everyone in their small sector, which was all the female gym leaders and one strange person at the end of the hall.

Disrobing and stepping into the shower, the girls immediately felt soothed by the hot water cascading down their bodies, the heat acting as a blockage to all the problems in the real world. With their minds and bodies covered by steam and pellets of liquid, they began to think.

Misty was staring down at her body in dismay: she had filled out to a C-Cup since her younger days but her body was unhealthily pale for her kind of athletic lifestyle. After the disappearance of Ash 5 years ago, the teen had been spending a lot of time in her families inside pool, hidden away from the world unless it was for gym battles. And she had even started to lose her edge in battling as well. However, she had a bit of a tan from going out into the outside pools at the resorts she frequented with her friends, but that was about it. She needed to regain her confidence, but didn't know how without him: yes it was pathetic to rely on someone else but she had been feeling pathetic for 5 years now, so she was used to it.

May, on the other hand, was just standing there staring at the marble wall. She, like Misty, had filled out more but in her earlier years, boosting her to a D-Cup like Serena, but that attracted a lot of unwanted attention. She had been cat-called for years now, but it still didn't stop herself from feeling dirty and disgusted with her body. Boys had asked her out countless times for her looks but she only wanted one boy… and he was probably dead. She had tried to get over her fear on her own and she could handle herself if anything physical did happen, but having someone like Ash there, someone who would protect you just feels right.

Dawn was sitting down against the cool stone, contrasting to the searing heat that she had put her shower onto. She, unlike May, didn't have to really worry about cat-calling or anything like that due to her normal C-Cups but what disturbed her is how often she tried to get over Ash with some else. There was always some new, some old, some that could make her feel happy for a few weeks. But that was all she could cope for without thinking of him and ending it then and there: thinking of Ash broke her inside and out. There were times were she would think of him alone but she tried to limit them moments in order to thinking about her Co-ordinating but her thoughts would always do a 360 and go against her will.

Iris was cleansing herself with soap and hair gel that reminded her of the forest, the first place where she met Ash on his Unova journey. Her cheeks lit up in a bright pink hue as she examined her own body: small-ish B-Cups covered her chest, which she wasn't all that bothered by, but her darker skin was rare and 'exotic' some would say to her. She, like Misty, had started to isolate herself more and more as the days went by, hiding in the forest until she was called in for a Gym-battle. Axew had evolved in a Haxorus but he was still one of her best friends, even though she couldn't keep him in her hair anymore. However, the forest reminded her of Ash and all the times that they spent together.

Finally, there was Serena, who hadn't even turned on her shower. She simple stood there, tears streaming down her face, before she quickly flipped the switch, setting it to a burning cold. She had sins that needed to be washed away from her body: like Dawn, she had spent her time with other people, more specifically one boy from her hometown. Calem. Just thinking about him made her skin crawl. After Ash's disappearance, Serena just cried for days and days in Ash's room before returning to Kalos and crying some more. But then Calem appeared, like an angel sent from heaven to watch over her at her worst time. Oh boy, was she wrong. He was a horrible man, and all Serena wanted was Ash.

They all wanted Ash to help them through the dark times.

They all wanted Ash to protect them.

They all wanted Ash to hold them and tell them that they were safe.

They all wanted Ash to spend time with them.

They all wanted Ash to help them.

They all wanted Ash to… to… be there.

And they all felt terrible for it.

The first to leave was Iris, then it was Dawn, then Misty, then May and finally, Serena. All of them got changed in a cubical before exiting and meeting back up in the room. By now it was 7:35 and they needed to get out now, or they would be stuck here all day.

Making a unanimous agreement, they decided to go buy outfits or tonight. Stepping out of the Pokémon Centre, they were met with blinding lights from the blazing sun, forcing them to shield their eyes from the scorched sky. Talking small steps onto the hot concrete, the group of friends slowly started to make their way towards the main shopping area, until they got to the beach and May saw someone quite familiar sitting on the golden sands.

* * *

Ash did not want to get up.

He had fallen onto the sand in an attempt to leave the closing tide, and now he just sat there, enjoying the early morning sun. No problems. No aura. No girls… Actually, there was going to be a problem, it had to do with his aura being off and there were going to be some girls involved, 5 of them to be exact.

Hearing a distant sound across the shrunken desert, Pikachu started to move about from his position on his trainers chest, having taken another quick sleep to make up for lost time, before noticing a certain brunette heading towards them. Quickly, he dashed up to Ash's face, which wasn't covered by a hood, before nuzzling quite deep into his neck to remain hidden from view.

Before Ash could even comprehend wat Pikachu had done, he felt the sand shift beneath him and saw the shadow of a figure standing behind him. Changing his eyes and tightening his bandanna, he fell backwards onto the sand, colliding with the person's feet. Gazing up over his cap, Ash's breath caught in his throat: he hadn't sensed or heard the person until they were directly on top of him due to turning off his aura. And that person happened to be May Maple.

She was just as Ash remembered her from Sinnoh; beautiful. Of course, he had seen her yesterday, but that was through tinted vison of crimson red that had been circulating through his veins. She was standing there with a smile plastered on her face.

Quick as a bolt, Ash flew up to a sitting position before he stood up and backed away. Lowering his voice using aura manipulation, Ash spoke.

"I'm, uh, sorry." He apologised as he picked up his discarded jackets off the sand.

May simply smiled back.

"Oh, that was nothing. I just came here to say thank you for yesterday."

"Now that was nothing; I hate seeing anyone like him getting all touchy feely with girls. Although, you looked like you could handle yourself pretty well, am I right?" Ash replied with a smug smile under his 'mask'?

Her eyes became downcast as she spoke once more.

"I guess you're right, but it feels nice to be the one protected once in a while, you know?" She asked innocently.

"No, can't say that I do." Ash replied with a harsh tone coming to his words unintentionally.

"Well, I'm sorry about that. I just came here to say thank you." Her words began to wander as her eyes locked onto Pikachu's, who had come unattached to Ash's pale skin. Slowly walking over to him, May placed a gentle and fragile hand on the rodent as if he was a piece of glass.

"You know," she began, "My friend had a Pikachu. It was always springy and bouncy, and I almost never saw it without a smile." Her own smile grew as she recounted fond memories, "And he always loved it when I scratched him… here!"

Her once gentle hand turned into a monstrous machine when it reached the back of Pikachu's right ear, sending him into a fit of purring and nuzzling against the teenagers hand. May was sent into a little fit of her own as he squirmed beneath her hand. Another smile threatened to rip Ash's bandanna off his face.

'I heard from the Pokémon Professor in Hoenn, Professor Burch, that Pikachu love it when they get scratched here.'

Hesitantly taking her hand off of Pikachu, May turned back to Ash.

"Oh, I'm sorry for not asking." She replied, before bowing slightly.

"Don't bow, I'm not that important, and Pikachu seemed to enjoy it, right?" The electric type in question nodded his head at such a high speed that his cranium threatened to disconnect from his spine if he kept going.

"Well thank you again, again". May giggled.

But now it was Ash's turn to look sombre as his mind and heart wandered to one question that he needed to ask.

"What did you think of this friend, if you don't mind me asking?" He asked almost silently, and his eyes widened a fraction when she responded almost immediately.

"He was special. I know that I shouldn't be telling some random stranger this, but I need someone to talk to that isn't one of my best friends and someone who has heard the story a thousand times over. I think that I fell for him… and hard. And what's even weirder, was that my other friends fell for the same guy. Weird, huh?" She said bluntly, with a hard blush painted onto her face.

Ash was a little shocked by this response and was about to speak when his aura pinged.

'Why now, dammit?' It was 4 other auras all calling for May. Ash didn't take any time to guess who it was as he knew their auras by memory alone: it was Misty, Dawn, Iris and Serena. He had a small panic attack before replying to May.

"Are those your friends?" He asked, pointing his gloved hand over by the pavement.

May spun round quick, to see her friends looking around everywhere with Misty yelling at the others for losing her.

"Yeah, they're my friends alright. Thank you for this talk, Mr..." And he was gone. She was shocked. Maybe he didn't want to be seen by the others? Or maybe he didn't want to give her his name? Either or, he wasn't there anymore, but now some stress had been lifted from her shoulders.

Before she could think anymore, a very pissed off Misty yelled, "MAY! YOU STUPID… UH! GET BACK OVER HERE, NOW!" Letting a smile grace her lips, May proceeded to run back to her group.

* * *

Ash stood in his room, panting.

He had quickly light stepped out of there to avoid another meetings. Plus, he had to mull over what he had heard.

5 girls, that he had a crush on since he was 13, liked him.

This information was new and interesting: it was like a double edged sword. For one, he was really happy. He had people who still liked him, people who might love him! This was what he wanted up on that mountain, human love and affection, for someone to accept him after what he had become that dreadful night.

He felt happy, very happy.

But in the other hand: he had left for 5 years. He had probably destroyed these girls lives, so many hours, days, years wasted looking for him while he was being a coward up on that fucking mountain. They couldn't have functioning love lives because of him, they had to waste away their careers because of him, they couldn't perform to the standards that they could because of him.

He was hurting them by being away.

He felt so horrible, but so happy. He was hurting himself thinking about his. Looking at the clock, he noted that it was about 7:45: a perfect time to head out into the forest and train for a few hours, which would help clear his head.

Looking at Pikachu, who was staring at him, he nodded, signalling his partner to fetch his pack. After retrieving the item full of coveted Pokémon, Ash gave him a little scratch before he took off out of the window and into the dense forest that lay near the edge of town.

Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

Letting his feet hit hard land felt good after a week at sea.

Brock had disembarked from his luxury cruiser after another 30 minutes of travel to the island. From his view: the island looked amazing! Lush greenery filled rocky cliffs on all sides of the land mass while sandy beaches coated the outline, trapping in the small town at the islands core.

Checking his watch, Brock noted the time as 8:00, so around the time that most of the island's shops started to open, as well as when most of the beaches would become packed with people.

Drool threatened to pool out of his mouth as thoughts of bikini-clad girls filled his mind palace, but he pushed them thoughts away to focus on the task at hand: getting to the Pokémon Centre.

While he walked along the mile long stretch of glorious golden, his mind started to shift and fix itself onto the subject he thought about for most of his boat journey up to this point: how he could have helped Ash stay.

He could have confronted him, got him to calm down by explaining the situation to him.

He could have stood up to him, it would have gotten rough but he would still be here.

He could have done ANYTHING and it almost certainly would have been better than what he actually did.

Losing himself in his thoughts, Brock let his feet glide along the stone paved road up to the Pokémon Centre, saying hello to anyone who recognised him on the way there.

Finally setting himself free from the chains of guilt for a few minutes, Brocks eyes focused on the white tinted glass of the Pokémon Centre's sliding door. Staring blankly at it for a few moments, Brock quickly smartened his outfit, before striding in with confidence and grace.

And once his eyes crossed the room, his eyes met hers.

She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, yes, she was a Nurse Joy but the way she had her pink hair in twin pigtails and how her skin seemed to shine against the sun. He had seen many Nurse Joys in his time, all of them most likely related to this one here, but she was outstanding.

At a speed that could beat the world's fastest man ten times over, Brock sprung over to the front desk, losing all sense of grace or glory. Once positioned at the desk, he noted the second Nurse sitting next to her who had some different coloured dye in her hair, also looked good but his beauty was right in front of him.

*Cough* "Why hello ladies, how are you today?" Brock asked with as much suave as his sweating body could muster.

Looking up from her desk, 'his love' quickly blushed before turning back to her table, staring at it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"H-hello, head chief and previous P-pewter City gym leader." She stuttered, trying to hide her embarrassment, as she was hopelessly attracted to this man: it was almost as if some other world force had drawn them together…

Her sister, however, was not attracted to this man.

"Ha, ha, ha! This is perfect! Oh my Arceus, this is perfect!" She laughed and chuckled while slapping the desk.

"R-Rose, don't be rude."

"Are you kidding me, Joyce? This loser tries to chat us up and you fall for it?" Her sister responded in a snarky tone.

"So, your name is Joyce, huh? Pretty name. And please, just call me Brock, we are colleagues for now." Brock stated, clearly ignoring the statement presented by Rose.

"T-thank you, B-Brock." She stuttered once more while her sister sat on, starting in amusement and disbelief that this was actually working. Sure, she knew who this guy was and respected him for his position, but at this point in time, she saw him as a womanizer.

"Now, how about you and I go-AH!" He started to try and ask this woman out, but luckily for everyone in the Pokémon Centre, Brock's very own Toxicroak soon shut him up. Joyce and Rose stared down at his limp body before Rose flew into a fit of laughter, while her sister started to look over Brocks wounds.

"Ju-just give him his room key, already!" Rose managed to say through her current fit.

"Which room?" Joyce said back.

"Eh, he is a member of staff and there is only one of them, plus I highly doubt that he will be pulling anyone, so just stick him in one of the one person bedrooms." Her sister shrugged, clearly not-caring about the current situation about the poor man in front of the front desk.

"What, in one of the rooms that you could've given to A-I mean that trainer that came in here earlier?" Both members of the Joy family felt their breath catch in their throats, before they looked around to see if anyone had heard their little mix up. Fortunately, no one had.

"Yea, one of those ones will do."

"Okay, I'll help him to his room." Her sister swung Brock's arm around her neck before she dragged him to the predominantly male section of the building, where he would be staying.

'I wonder where she gets it from.' Rose thought as her sister disappeared behind the wooden door.

* * *

Gary Oak was sitting quietly in his room.

On his desk, were 4 pictures that he managed to snap of that mystery man that had beat up Drew. He couldn't get his face in just right, but the managed to nail a few shots of neon trails leaving blue or red eyes.

Smirking in disbelief, Gary spoke to no-one but himself.

'Welcome back Ketchum."

* * *

After a few hours of shopping, the girls were all getting ready in their room.

Misty had decided to buy a dress, a sea green dress that highlighted her eyes. However, the dress wasn't long or flowy, but was short and ended at her knees. She wanted to wear her normal clothes but was coaxed into buying the dress by the other girls. One thing that they did get right, was the black and white trainers that adorned her feet.

May was wearing her new Coordinators outfit: a neon pink skirt wrapped itself around her form, with a white and pink waist coat covering her chest. She had ditched her bandanna for a pink bow and a pair of matching pink heels. She decided that she couldn't find anything while shopping, but wanted to look good.

Dawn, on the other-hand, was wearing a outfit similar to her original outfit: a pure white waist, fluffy coat covered a long white dress. However, her beanie remained on her head and white boots remained at her feet: at least she matched.

Iris didn't bother that much and just did up her hair a bit and retained her usual attire.

Finally, Serena was wearing an outfit similar to her first one when she was out travelling: a black, long-sleeved top covered most of her torso and a red skirt covered her waist. However, black tights and shoes were replaced by simple black socks and red shoes that matched her skirt. Like most of the other girls, she had chosen to keep her hat off for tonight.

After making themselves look as good as they could, all 5 smiled at each other before heading out towards the main hall of the Pokémon Centre. By now, it was already nightfall and the moon shone almost as bright as the sun in the pitch black.

Entering the hall, the teens weren't that surprised to see so many people as it was already quite late. The hall was dressed up like a party at least: streamers and banners welcoming battlers to the contest, reds and blacks dominating most of the empty space around the pure white font. What looked like hundreds of food plates were swamped on top of the tables, delicious cakes or meat draped delicately on to the metal, enticing many party goers to go over to the cuisine before they die of dehydration from drooling.

Looking around, they noticed a few faces, mostly gym-leaders but they also saw the twin Nurse Joys hanging around: the one with dye in her hair was talking to a boy in a red sweatshirt while the other was waiting outside of the kitchen doors, they couldn't see Delia but she had told them the day before that she wouldn't be going out today as it was 'her time of the month'. Drifting their eyes, across the room, they saw a certain group that they didn't want to go anywhere near at the moment.

However, fate was a bitch.

A duo consisting of a messy haired brunette, and a young boy with thick black glasses waltzed over, trying to fit in snuggly between May and Dawn.

"Hey sis'!" Max called to May, managing to get above the loud chattering and different sounds. He was dressed in a simple black tuxedo styled t-shirt with black cargo shorts and smart black shoes. May sighed, before replying.

"Hello Max." What Max got from that, was boredom?

"What's up?" He asked, puzzled as to why his sister was acting like this. He knows that they haven't had the best relationship in the last 5 years, but he still cared.

"Nothing." She replied.

"So… how are you Dawn?" Kenny smiled smugly as he asked, it seemed like he had learnt a few tricks off of Drew. Apparently, the bluenette had said that out-loud, because the teens smile grew ten-fold before he spoke up again.

"He also taught me how to make-out with girls: wanna be the first one I try it on? It'll be a privilege."

Everyone there, shuddered at his flirting attempt, thinking of him as disgusting.

Dawn was furious; how dare he even consider that. However, before any profanities made it out of her mouth, Iris stepped up for her. Eying the teen up and down, she noted his blue jumper and faded red chinos with battered black trainers.

"What, did Drew give you a big sloppy kiss to teach you? I bet you enjoyed that." She replied, with an equally large. As the words travelled to his ears, Kenny's cheeks became tinted and his jaw became clenched, as words began to attempt to travel out of his locked lips.

"N-n-no, I-I-I mean… Fuck you!" He quietly yelled at her before he stepped towards her, the grin becoming apparent once more. Iris stood her ground: he was dumb but not dumb enough to hit her in a public place. But then he raised his hand and wrapped his fingers into a fist.

Just as the piece of hard skin was about to make contact, the doors opened slowly, revealing a very familiar face. As soon as his padded foot entered the door, everyone went quiet. Here was the man who had beat up the crowned 'Hoenn Prince' without breaking a sweat, the man who had left his arm in a cast,and a bandage over his nose and face. Suddenly, all the males around the 5 girls slowly backed away to the furthest corners of the room.

Slowly walking while quietly conversing with his Pikachu, every pair of eyes in the building landed on his covered face, the black cloth moving and shifting with every word that he said. His eyes were still of a dark blue and an endless black filled the rest, but they held compassion. Both of his jackets were thrown over his left shoulder, showing off a simple white dress shirt and messy black tie.

When he reached the centre of the room, his eyes began to rapidly shift over everyone in the room, as if he was analysing everybody there.

* * *

Scanning over the crowd, Ash saw many recognisable trainers. He was currently reading their auras and was checking how they were. After finishing, his training, the teen had decided to come back for this 'party' that was supposedly going on, and boy had he found it.

Wasn't much of a party if it was silent though, right?

After his eyes glazed over a few gym-leaders, Ash's eyes locked onto one aura in particular; the aura of his old friend Gary Oak. He was currently standing by his entourage of his old rivals, and a battered Drew, which pleased him to no end.

But his aura was different to theirs: they had a sense of fear or hate to their dark blue sparks, while his held admiration and joy?

Slowly making his way through the parted crowd over to the now-Professor, Ash switched his sight back to normal. Eying him up and down, Ash noted that his hair was shorter and darker, but still retained its spikey nature. His eyes were a duller version of his regular onyx coloured orbs, but his skin tone was the same. A black shirt covered his torso, while similar black jeans coated his legs, ending in some simple brown boots.

Looking at him dead in the eye, Ash stood an inch taller than him, but Gary wasn't faltering. Closing his eyelids once more, he started to talk to the younger Oak.

" _ **You know who I am."**_ Ash stated bluntly, his aura directing the message to Gary's brain without anybody else hearing it

Nodding his head, Gary's smirk still remained on his face. Everyone in the centre was confused at how he wasn't scared, but were frightened themselves when they saw his eyes spark blue and light up even more than they usually did.

" _ **Have you told anyone?"**_

Gary shook his head.

" _ **At least you can be respectful… at times. You better keep quiet about this, because I want to see the look on everyone's face tomorrow after they realise that I have come back, and I want to see their faces as well."**_ Ash motioned to Gary's group when he said that last part.

"Okay then. I want to see it as well." The Professor shot back, before jutting out his hand.

Ash took one look at his outstretched hand, before he slapped it away. Glaring at Gary with all the hatred in his heart, Ash slowly started to walk back to his room. Letting his eyes move to Pikachu, he saw a similar expression to his own painted on his small, yellow face.

After enough people had moved out of the way, Ash found himself face-to-face with 5 girls that he didn't want to be around right now. Looking around the surrounding area, he saw no other way out.

"What?" He asked, with no venom in his voice, but curiosity.

"We find out about who you are tomorrow, right?" Misty asked with her hands at her hips.

"Yes, so wait till tomorrow." Ash replied nonchalantly.

"Just wanted all of these people to know, in-case you break that promise." Misty fired back. Her eyes moved over to the Pikachu that was positioned on his shoulder, whose face was buried into Ash's neck.

"Okay. Goodnight." Ash responded quite quickly before calmly pushing past the red head and into his dorm.

* * *

And as soon as he left, all eyes fell back onto Gary Oak. He was enjoying a beer whilst lightly chuckling to himself. Then, everything went back to how they were before.

Iris, scanned the room, and noticed Kenny and Max all the way on the left side of the centre, cowering after yesterday's display.

"Well that was fierce, Misty." A new voice broke through the girls thoughts, as a dark skinned man dressed in a white chef's outfit entered through the kitchen door, a certain Nurse Joy not far behind him.

"Brock!" Misty shouted back to her long-time companion.

"How's it going girls?" He asked back.

"Fine." They all responded, only Dawn and May took note of how Joyce Joy was practically hanging off his right arm, giggling when they saw it.

"How's Forest? Is he matching up to you?" Misty asked, curious as to what the new Pewter City gym leader was like.

"By matching, do you mean besting me in almost every single way?" He replied, with a smile gracing his lips.

"Wow, that good huh?" Iris said back, earning the eyes of Brock.

"Yea, he's really good. Speaking of really good, I heard about that guy." He said, face turning serious for a second.

"Yep. He really is something." Dawn said back in reply.

Silence befell the group before Brock spoke.

"So which of you girls is battling in the tournament?"

"Well, Iris and I are but Dawn, May and Serena are helping out with the show by… what are you three doing again?" Misty asked, forgetting what they had told her on the way here.

"Hm! I can't believe that you wouldn't forget!" May replied, her face serious but playful, her arms crossed and body turned away from the gym-leader.

"What we are doing, Misty," Serena spoke up, "Is that we are helping out with the opening and closing shows."

"Oh, thanks Serena."

"Anyway, I've got to get going." Brock said, motioning to the yawning Nurse Joy. All 5 girls froze.

"No! Not like that! See-ya!" Brock shouted back as he skulked off with Joyce behind him, causing all 5 to laugh at his error and attempt to fix it.

* * *

After partying for a few hours, Mr. Goodshow had announced that the Tournament will start at 1:00 PM. Excitement spread like a virus throughout the crowd, sending some into a frenzy of drinking and even more partying.

The group of friends were a lot smarter and had headed to their room after the announcement. Sitting on the floor the same way they had earlier that morning, Serena had a thought.

"Wait, isn't this the dorm area where that guy came in earlier?" At this information, all 5 girls froze for the second time that night.

"B-but this d-dorm only has f-female gym-leaders in it, r-right?" May managed to stutter out.

"H-hey, there's t-that room at the end of the hallway." Dawn said back. Letting out their held breaths, all of them decided to retire as it would be a long day tomorrow and they needed to be ready for one o'clock.

* * *

Ash was laying on his bed, deep in thought, like he had been doing for the last 3 hours, asking the same question over and over again.

'How the hell does Gary know?' He thought, feeling his aura become crimson as he held back his anger, the cage of blue aura keeping his rage at bay.

'But then again, Gary always had that 'know-it-all' attitude since we were little kids, so maybe he got some information out of Rose or Joyce…' That thought left his head almost immediately, "No, they said that they would keep it a secret back when I checked in earlier, so maybe…'

After 30 minutes of thinking of illogical theories and such to try and figure out why the youngest Oak, knew of his endeavours, he gave up. Curling up under the covers, Ash felt consciousness leave him, but now he was ready for tomorrow.

And he would become a champion. He would not become his father.

* * *

 _Five girls sat by the front door of the Ketchum house hold, each deep in though at what they had just done._

 _After Misty, May, Dawn, and Iris had met up on the Pallet Town docks, they had begun talking about Ash and why they were here. They had all rehearsed the same answer, and that gave them away quite quickly._

 _They had talked about their feelings for a long time, talking about why they liked him, what made him special, all that he had done for them and his Pokémon. Then, on the way to his house to tell his mother, they ran into another girl that they had all heard Ash's mother talk about when they had conversations over the call-system at the Pokémon Centre._

 _Serena had been very easy to make friends with, but they didn't really have to try hard to see that see liked Ash the same way that they did. After travelling to the Ketchum house, they saw many of Ash's friends in the living room._

 _When they eventually found Delia Ketchum, they told her about what they felt and she was very happy for them: a little bit too happy considering that her son had 5 admirers, but they didn't pay that much attention to it._

 _Now, they were sitting by the door while Delia was out at the shops getting supplies for the surprise party that they were throwing for Ash. They couldn't kind of hear what the boys were talking about, but didn't really care about it._

" _Where did Ash say he was again?" Dawn asked, directing her question towards Serena._

" _He said he was going to Professor Oak's to see his Pokémon." She replied with a soft a caring tone to her voice._

" _Well he needs to stop messing out with those Pokémon and get his ass over here: we all need to have a serious talk with him about why he is throwing himself off of buildings so much."_

" _Trust me Misty, I tried in Kalos. He said that he would do anything for his Pokémon… and for his friends." Serena replied with a slight smile._

" _Yeah, but that does not mean doing it 3 times in 3 months, does it?" Iris asked, stroking Axew who was currently positioned in her long purple hair._

" _Like he said Iris, he would do anything for his friends." May spoke, watching Glaceon and Buneary play as they were waiting to see Pikachu._

 _Just then, they heard a chime signal from the living room, before Gary Oak's voice exploded throughout the house. Above them, they heard someone scurrying around, trying to get to the stairs in a rushed manner._

 _Then it happened, faster than anything had happened in all their lives, but it was so slow to them that they could see even piece of emotion that was etched into his face._

 _Iris was closest to the door so when it was violently pushed open, she screamed while all the other girls stood up like bullets, worry setting itself into their minds and bodies before they shouted the same word._

" _ASH!"_

 _His eyes turned to their direction and what they saw terrified them to no end. The boy that they cared so deeply about look like a monster, a beast, a ghoul! His iris' were of a thick red crimson with his teeth sharp and bared, hands curled into fists._

 _Someone had changed the boy that they loved._

* * *

Ash picked up Pikachu before he fixed his coats and exited his room.

He had woken up quite late, around 11:00 AM, allowing himself a few hours of peace before he packed up and heading over to the main hall. Every trainer he saw was buzzing with enthusiasm, ready and able for the tournament. Ash knew that he was going to have to fight his hardest, all of these people had been chosen for the 'Tournament of Champions' after all.

As he was walking, he ran into a group of 3 people, which he had apologised to afterwards.

Looking at them, he noticed the difference in character between them: the first was a man who looked around 20. He was around 5'89, so a few inches shorter than Ash, but looked a lot more mature, a short bed of oak brown hair covering his head. His skin was like Brock's, but a little darker and matching brown eyes finalised his face. He was wearing a red jumper, which seemed to be darker in colour then Ash's own hoodie, with a massive black and white 3 sown onto the front, a matching red beanie and black jean shorts that ended just below his knee, not reaching a pair of white trainers. On his head was a beautiful Flareon that was staring contently at Pikachu.

Next to him was a girl around his age who stood at 5'5. She had bright scarlet hair that ended just after her shoulders and bright turquoise eyes looked as if pierced the soul. Her skin was more tanned than his own, but it was still pale. A short-sleeved sky blue shirt covered her upper body, where-as a darker sea blue skirt covered her legs and waist. A pair of shoes similar in appearance to the previous boys rested on her feet.

Finally, there was a man that looked in between the two in age, so around 19, however most of his face was covered by a hood. He was around 6'1 and his coat was white and some black jogging trousers hung loosely around his waist, ending in a pair of black shoes. Behind him stood a Hypno that was staring intently at the duo, as if he was waiting for some kind of confrontation.

"Oh, sorry man didn't see you there." The first person said, before he looked up to see who it was only to run behind his female companion at who they were in company with. "P-please d-don't hurt us!"

"Um, I wasn't going to do anything." Ash replied, looking at the other two with concern and confusion in his eyes, but they simply shrugged. The girl stepped forward and extended her hand towards him.

"Sorry about him. Hi, I'm Selina, the scared little boy over there is Quincy and the tall one is Tino." Ash took her hand and shook it.

"Hi, sorry for running into you." Ash said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. So, what's your name if you don't mind me asking?" She replied.

"Well… give it 3 hours. The tournament starts then and I promised some people that I would reveal my identity then." He replied, looking away as to not meet her eyes.

"Oh, okay then. We were just heading to the tournament hall now, you want to come with?"

"Sure, and if you want to call me anything, just call me A." Ash said, thinking of a codename straight away, without really thinking.

"A? Sure," Turning back to face her two companions, "Come on Quincy, he said he wasn't going to do anything. Now hurry up, we're leaving."

Standing up from his crouched position from the floor, his eyes seemed to retain some fire in his eyes before retaliating.

"Oh yea!? Well, he might be tricking you, have you thought about that?" He responded.

"Really, Quincy!? He hasn't given as much as a code-name to anybody but us and you still think that he is trying to pull something?!" Selina shouted back, "Man up you scared little boy!"

"You think that I'm scared!? He's almost a whole foot taller than you, midget, so you probably look like a ginger ant down on the ground!"

"What did you just call me!?"

"A midget, happy now!?"

Let's just say, this continued for a while. As they were having their shouting match, Ash started talking to Tino.

"Does this usually happen?"

"Yes, it does. Ever since we first met, they've always been butting heads but we've known each other for a while now, so… Can I ask you something?" He asked.

"Sure."

"Why have you given us your name?" Tino asked puzzled, dragging his two friend back from their sparring match to listen to their conversation.

"Well, I kind of know everyone here and I bet that they would know who I really was if I gave out even one letter of my name."

"Oh. Thank you for the information." After that small talk, they trekked off to the main tournament hall with two people arguing the whole way there.

* * *

2 hours later, they were standing inside the locker room, waiting for their time to come onto the field for the opening ceremony. Around them were around 30 other contestants who were trying their best to keep their distance from Ash, probably because of his previous actions.

Ash's aura was constantly going off due to the large number of people at the event and Ash was able to get a feel of excitement from almost every aura in the stands. Now that he thought about it, it was very therapeutic. Being up on that mountain for 5 years meant that he didn't get to experience these kind of things very often, so being in an arena full of thousands of people all feeling the same thing was very nice.

Just when he thought that he was about to doze off, Selina nudged him to re-awaken him. After a few blinks, Ash noticed people starting to leave the locker-room.

"You go on ahead. I'll go last."

"Okay, fine by me. Seeya later!" She called back to him after running up to catch Tino and Qunicy. Ash smiled under his mask before turning to Pikachu.

"You ready?" With that question his companion nodded his head very fast. Taking one last deep breath, Ash began to leave the confinements of the lonely locker room and take his first steps into a world he hadn't been in for over 5 years.

Slowly pulling down his bandanna, and taking off his outer jacket, he was finally ready to face his fears.

* * *

Eyes of every shade, people of every calibre watched in a trance as the contestants began to pool out of the room. Cheers erupted from every direction of the world as every region watched in awe at all the powerful trainers stroll out with their Pokémon.

In the stands, gym-leaders and citizens sat side-by-side, cheering and shouting as each person with pride and confidence. Streamers and confetti surrounded the air, blocking out sun-light as they walked to where Mr. Goodshow was positioned with all the Co-Ordinators and staff that helped out with the opening ceremony. Up in the Champions Box, every regions reigning champ watched on with the same passion as those in the stands, ready and waiting for the battles to start.

However, what everyone was excited for was a certain trainer dressed almost all in black with a Pikachu positioned on his right shoulder.

After 29 trainers emerged from the room, only one remained and he exited not 10 seconds after the last but his entrance was spectacular. He entered when no music played, when the streamers had fallen to the floor, when the crowd was silent.

Strolling out, he wore only his red hoodie with the hood up but even from a good distance away, people noticed the lack of any kind of face mask. But he continued to walk up to the crowd of people, remaining silent as he walked.

After he had made it to the rest of the trainers, Mr. Goodshow smiled and took his place on the podium.

"Hello Pokémon Enthusiasts, Gym-Leaders, Champions, anyone who is watching from home. You are here today to watch the greatest and biggest tournament of all time, the 'Tournament of Champions'!" He yelled into the microphone, earning more cheers and claps and shouting.

"And what better way to start a Pokémon tournament, then with a battle!" his eyes shifted to a certain member of the small 30 man crowd. He nodded to the young man, who nodded back before he strolled past every other person and sat down on the elevated platform next to Mr. Goodshow, stroking his Pikachu's fur.

"Who is willing to take on this young man in a battle to stand the test of time?" Almost immediately, a hand that belonged to a certain green haired Co-ordinator shot up. Goodshow took a look at the young boy, then at the teen sat next to him, who nodded his head.

"Well then folks, here you have the first fight of the tournament!" He called out to crowd, sending them into another frenzy "Will the two battlers take up their positions, while the other trainers please take to their seats, and be sure to come back tomorrow for the start of the battles for that highly coveted 'Champion' title!" Mr. Goodshow ended his speech.

After a few minutes of shuffling around, the battlefield was ready.

In his head Drew began to judge and mock this boy, 'I'll take him down a few notches. I am THE 'Prince of Hoenn' and I WILL CRUSH HIM!' Meanwhile, the other teen was standing there patiently.

"This will be a 1-on-1 Pokémon battle between Drew Hayden of Hoenn and…"The referee looked over at the second boy, who nodded before his hand fell onto his hood.

The wait for him to pull down the cloth was endless, everyone wanted to know who he was. And then it happened.

The cloth came down like a wall onto the bottom layer of fabric and the trainer removed his cap, revealing a head of messy ashen grey hair that curved in unnatural angles and ways. The black that had been eating away at his eyes for the last 2 days was gone, replaced by pure white, while the blue had been ripped apart and thrown away, a chocolate brown taking its place. Two zig-zag like lines that had previously been un-viewable were now out in the open.

The referee was frozen at who this person was. The cameras hadn't yet zoomed I n on his face so he took his opportunity to shout the boy's name.

"A-a-and ASH KETCHUM OF KANTO!"

* * *

In the stands, silence.

* * *

In Kanto, silence.

* * *

In Johto, silence.

* * *

In Hoenn, silence.

* * *

In Sinnoh, silence.

* * *

In Unova, silence.

* * *

In Kalos, silence.

* * *

Tears burst from many people in the crowd, running down their cheeks like waterfalls. The boy that had 'died' 5 years ago was alive. The boy that had risked his life for Pokémon on numerous occasions, was alive. The boy that had an infectious happy-go-lucky personality, was alive. The boy that had lost every league he entered, was alive.

The boy that had captured the hearts of certain girls in the crowd, was alive.

Misty, May, Dawn, Iris and Serena held each other as they cried, enough water to fill the whole ocean falling from their eyes: he had been next to them the whole fucking time they were here. Cynthia was silently sobbing in the Champions box, nothing could stop the tears, not the soothing from Lance, not the hug from Hilda or the gentle words from Steven. They didn't know how happy she felt. Many others in the stand also burst into uncontrollable sobbing at the reveal of this information.

Ash Ketchum was alive.

* * *

"Come on then Drew, let's give them a show to remember." Ash spoke, reaching for a Pokeball on his belt, as he surveyed the crowd, pleased but saddened by the reactions. He had finally revealed who he was, but he done what he never wanted to do again: make the girls that he loves cry.

Snapping out of his trance, Drew gritted his teeth a before grabbing a Pokeball from his own belt and throwing it into the arena. Out of the bright white light, came a beautiful green Pokémon with a plant-like appearance. A red and blue rose bud sat atop each of its arms and white thread moved around tis body.

"CRUSH HIM ROSERADE!" Drew shouted, bringing life back into the stadium.

Smiling, Ash threw his own Pokémon out into battle. Out of the light, came a monster of a Pokémon.

A blue sea-serpent on his hind legs came out, a light yellow painted on his lower jaw with small patches of armour scattered across his body. Huge dorsal fins of a deep red ran up and down his scally back. Opening his black slit eyes, he let out a roar that not even Kyogre could match.

"Match him, Feraligatr." Ash spoke with a smirk.

The world leaned forward with interest or fear at this new challenger, wiping away their tears and watching with awe at the training put into this majestic Pokémon. This would truly be a good fight.

"You get the first move, Drew." Ash said with confidence.

"Screw you! Roserade finish this quickly with **Leaf Storm!** " Drew shouted at his opponent. The grass type leapt into the fray, leaves of all shapes and colours cutting through the air as a mighty wind was sent throughout the stadium, as it began collecting the razor sharp plants for attack.

"Feraligatr: **Ice Armour Technique**." Ash called out, calm and collected. The stadium was still silent, but now everyone was intrigued by this new technique. Slowly, Feraligatr used **Aqua Tail** to coat itself in a thick layer of water before a fast jet of ice from an **Ice Beam** erupted from his mouth, freezing the rolling water into a block of ice around the form of the Pokémon. After that had solidified, Feraliagtr broke some of the ice to make a place for his jaw to come through: he was as heavy as a tank and as sturdy as the rock that made up the Earth.

Many gasped in awe at the technique, praising it for effectiveness but also shunning it for how dangerous it was: Feraligatr could suffocate in the ice if it had been too thick or the armour wouldn't have been strong enough if the ice was too thin. He really had perfected this technique.

As he finished the **Ice Armour** , Roserade's Leaf Storm flew through the air towards the lizard. However, due to the armour, a moves that usually 1 Hit K.O'd against a water types, was reduced to nothing more than a nuisance, only mildly starching the armour.

"Feraligatr, **Crunch**." Ash asked to his companion before the Pokémon broke away at speed to match the fastest of flying types, even in the armour, before mighty jaws of bone came down on a leaf body which was still recovering from using such a strong attack out of the gate.

When the teeth came down on its torso, Roserade let out a cry of pain. The audience saw the discomfort in its eyes as Feraligatr raised it high up into the air. Ash saw the discomfort and so sent it a message through aura.

' _ **I am sorry.'**_

Roserade looked at Ash, its eyes full of forgiveness and thanks for apologizing, before its body made contact with the hard floor. The blow was so massive that it had left a crater, where a fainted Roserade now lay.

"A-Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town is the winner!" The referee said, raising his flag in Ash's direction, as Drew fell to his knees. The audience was silent for a second before erupting into cheers about how strong Ash was now. Many who knew of how he was 5 years ago were shocked to see how strong he was, but 5 girls were currently exiting their seats and running to the locker rooms that lead to the arena.

Slowly walking over to Roserade, Ash picked it up, carefully as to not injure it any more. He turned to Feraligatr.

"You did great Frealigatr, thank you." He said before returning the serpent. Walking over to Drew, he held out Roserade to the fallen boy, allowing him to return the injured Pokémon.

"You worthless-"He started before Ash spoke up.

"He fought his hardest. Blame the trainer, not he Pokémon." Ash said, glaring down Drew before said boy looked up at him and ran out of the stadium.

"Stupid fucking idiot." Ash stated before he heard something that he hadn't heard in a long while.

"ASH!"

* * *

 **And done! That you all for reading Chapter 3 of my fanfiction and for sending in harem suggestions. I hope you liked this chapter, it took a while to write but now the story really starts to move! And don't worry, in the future the Pokémon Battles will be longer, I just wanted to show off the strength of Ash's Pokémon. Also, I hope I did the OC's justice, if I didn't he owners can message me and I will re-draft that part of the story. And don't worry, that weird shower scene wasn't just to show you the girl's cup-size, it does have importance later in the story. No, it's not just for sex scenes.**

 **Now, onto the harem: the winners of the pole were Korrina, Clair and Sabrina. Thank you to everyone who voted and I'm kind of surprised about who got chosen: it'll be a fun experience to write. Anyway, thank you for reading once more and I will leave you with the final Harem for this story:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **-Jack**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everybody! Jack here back for another chapter of my Pokémon Fanfiction. Once again, thank you for the support and feedback for the previous chapters, I really appreciate it. Now, I will be writing a few shorter chapters for the next few chapters, but they will be coming out more frequently as a result so I hope you can bear with a few short chapters for a while: I have a week off of school so I have a lot of time to write! Now, onto the reviews:**

 **TravellingMan93: Thanks for the OC information: I can add a little more to him now.**

 **Red the Pokémon Master: Hm… it is a good idea and I will think over it for the time being, but thank you for the suggestion.**

 **Rams34: Well… I don't really know how to explain this. It'll be different for each girl, that's for definite but they will obviously all share the same feelings for Ash and so forth.**

 **MidnightRebellion86: Yeah, he needed to be taught a lesson, and do not worry: Alexa will ebb put into this chapter so…**

 **Espeon44: Read on… you'll find out in this chapter. Muhaha! Oh, and thanks for the second OC.**

 **Bulls33: Probably not: for one it's an OC character and I don't want to meddle with their ideas for the character and two, Ash already has 12 girls… does he really need anymore?**

 **PokeFusionMaster: Thank you! And as for why his eyes change, you'll find out later. As for an update schedule, expect around 1-3 chapters a week, but I'm doing a crap job at the minute…**

 **Guest (No-name specified): Like previously mentioned, I will think the idea over but thanks for the suggestion. And as for the OC, send it to my PM and I will add it in next chapter.**

 **Fanfic Meister: YEAH! CURB STOMPED!**

 **Ky Karno: Thank you! I tried to get that bad-ass feel to his character, but mixed with his little-kid charm that will be seen more in this chapter.**

 **LonelySoul935: Thank you! As, it probably won't be one of those characters: it seems too expected, but it will be unexpected, whatever happens.**

 **Guest (No-name specified): Thanks!**

 **AnthonyC22: Yeah, thanks for the praise, although I don't really deserve it.**

 **Salemence989: I AM! I'M SORRY FOR BEING AWAY!**

 **HellFire45: Thanks, but there is a specific reason why I mentioned Dawn and Serena dating other people and that will be seen in a few chapters time.**

 **RashidMamunur2014: Thanks but I don't think that I deserve that much praise…**

 **Now, for anybody who sent in anything about adding another member to Ash's harem, the girls from last chapter are the final list of girls for Ash's harem, anymore would overload it.**

 **Quick thanks to Darkkess, Chris674241, JiroJackRabbit2, YesThenLucky9, AJ2554, The RocketMan, AlphaBlackWolf21, Cerxer1, TreeTho, XxX Prodigy XxX, Mullo1, KagenoKishi, HotRodder67, BlackSmith8240, AetherParadox, Damzos, Demoyon, Hiruma-Hirima, Lady Kurayami, .9, HaphenFan, FanFic Meister, Valadaresdudu, Crow And The Butterfly, NaramGMRinal, Evans L. Phantom, Asrael Vek ChaosBlood, Brandon ShadowWalker, MadReminant, Poke-HP Fan, TheFreezerStreets, DonkeyKongVsMario, Rubius, XFireDevil23, AnthonyCC22, AxxelNo1, TheGhostAuthor, WayToDawn0, Jonathan978, PvT-Skitties, DerekJSchrieber, HavocOrder0999, Dingo-822, Yufa-Takeero, WereWolves1999, Awesomeness64198, Sachin6291, Jezza Mulldog, RashidMamunur2014, ZeruXT, Deans1000, CG1991, Yanoakc, EnergySword888, Salamence989, Tuake, and Apollo89.**

 **S** peech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

Shifting his gaze towards the noise, a smile spread across Ash's face, his eyes softened and he let out that coiled tension form the fight with Drew. Heading his way, were 5 girls: all of them with tears running freely down their cheeks, staining their faces like blood on cloth. Letting out a sigh he stepped forward towards the figures of his past, shades of memories that had haunted him for 5 long years.

Before any words could fly out of his mouth, a crackle of thunder rang loud throughout the still air. Fear and panic were drawn onto Ash's face as he cast his eyes towards the sky: a bright blue bolt of plasma surged towards him at unimaginable speeds. Thinking on instinct, Ash grabbed Pikachu from his shoulder and threw him towards the girls: the yellow rodent let out a cry of anguish as he hurtled towards the group of teenagers.

Colliding with Ash's body, the bright blue flare consumed his whole being, enveloping him a blinding light. Onlookers watched as the young boy let out screams of pain and agony, his bones conducting electricity as his bloodstream was set alight.

Falling to his knees, all of Ash's senses went into overdrive: eardrums bursting from the sound, skin ripping at the heat, sight failing him. There were 5 voices that he could hear very clearly, and they were all screaming his name like they had done all those years ago.

"ASH!"

Forcing his body to cooperate with him, Ash forced his eyes to meet the frightened girls, fear written across their faces as they tried to etch closer to the swirling vortex of lightening. Raising a tattered and torn glove, Ash shouted above the assault of the sky.

"DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER!" His voice was laced with concern and worry, but also dominance and authority. The group stopped dead in their tracks, May holding a struggling Pikachu as it tried to escape her grasp.

Unleashing his screams unto the sky, Ash felt immense pain flare up in his right arm. Ripping off the cloth that was once his hoodie, Ash looked in horror at his arm as marking etched in blood and fire started to stain his skin. They danced across the delicate flesh, digging deep into the veins and arteries. By the time it reached his chest, his arm looked skinless: blood coating his arm in a deep crimson.

Then the war on his body stopped.

Blue flames of fire and lightning erupted in one final burst, hitting Ash just below his cheek, before they fled to the earth. Ash should be falling to the floor in pain and agony, but instead he sat there bemused by the strange mark left on his arm.

From what he saw, it looked like some kind of tribal tattoo. Black lines travelled up his arm, intersecting and crisscrossing. Some shapes looked like old symbols that he had seen on his travels, but they were all connected and joined up. At its final destination, the etching spread into an image of brilliant collection of different Pokémon that still remained in a tribal style.

Before anybody in the stadium could move another muscle, another bright light, similar in colour to the last erupted from the sky. Ash looked up in horror again as he expected another strike.

But a strike did not come.

Instead, something started to ascend from the clouds, lighting up the space with its godly hue. As it landed, Ash struggled to his feet before walking over to the Pokémon.

"Arceus." He spoke in a dull tone, weak from his previous activities.

" _ **Hello, Ash Ketchum."**_

"W-Why are you here?" He asked, struggling to regain his footing. Looking around, Ash noticed that everything had stopped. 'He must have frozen time so that we could have this talk.' Ash thought.

" _ **I am here today so that you can take your place among legend."**_

"Excuse me? What Legend?" Ash asked, intrigued by this new announcement.

" _ **You are an Aura Guardian, Ash, as you may already know."**_

"Yeah, I found out about it while I was in Hoenn, and have been training it up on Mount Silver, but aren't there other Aura Guardians?" Ash responded, confused as to what the God of all Pokémon with one, quite weak Aura Guardian.

" _ **There are others, but you are special."**_ Arceus responded, a smile present on his face, or as much as a smile could be on his face. _ **"You contain genes and traits that no other Aura Guardian has in this generation: you are a Guardian of Gods."**_

"W-What? Guardian of Gods?" Ash replied in a shaky voice, unsure of what Arceus meant.

" _ **Other Aura Guardians are tasked to protect the Pokémon that inhabit this world, the Guardian of Gods is tasked with protecting the Legendary Pokémon, my children. Ash, have you ever wondered why you had an easy time interacting with the Great Legendary Pokémon? Why you could risk your life for them even though you just met? You have had the identity of a Guardian of Gods planted on you from birth: you have had the traits passed down from your father."**_

The teenager just stood there, taking in all this information. He had never really thought about why he was willing to do anything to save these Pokémon, hell, he'd probably do it for any kind of Pokémon but now it all made sense. But out of everything presented to him, the last sentence intrigued him the most.

"My father, he was a Guardian as well?" Ash asked through gritted teeth.

" _ **Yes, your father was an Aura Guardian. And yes, he was a Guardian of my Children."**_ Arceus said with a sad and regretful tone to his voice.

"Why the fuck did he do what he did then!? Why did he cause all that death and destruction?!" Ash lashed out, voice laced with venom towards his father.

" _ **That question is not for me to answer. However, what is important are your duties and responsibilities that come with this role."**_ _Arceus said, knowing the rage that was consuming Ash's mind, but managed to calm the boy down._

" _ **That mark I just gave you, it is called the Mark of Legend. This mark is used by my children to determine you as the Guardian of Gods. You have always had a mark, well, two actually."**_ Ash looked down at his mark through his tattered dress shirt that let a large majority of his mark open to the world, but then wondered about what he meant by two marks that he has always had…

" _ **This identification allows you to work with them and speak freely with them at any time. And if it comes down to it, your mark can over-ride and control the Legendary Pokémon."**_ Gritted teeth became unattached as Ash's jaw fell open at the news.

"Are you telling me that I can control Pokémon with his brand? Isn't that dangerous? Aren't you worried that I might use it for bad intentions?" Ash asked, oblivious to the question he was asking.

" _ **Yes, it is dangerous and can kill the user if he goes through with it. Your mark will also raise your Aura levels, allowing you to use it for longer."**_ Ash wondered why Arceus side-stepped his last question but grew excited at the aspect of new abilities.

"Arceus… thank you for everything." The teen said with new found hope in his voice.

" _ **One final thing before I take my leave: every generation needs a Guardian of Gods but those gene can only come from you. I have asked this of every Guardian before you, and I will ask it of every Guardian after you: you will have to have multiple mates in order to spread these genes."**_

Ash's face turned beat red as Arceus asked him the request: Ash wasn't that kind of guy… was he? Arceus voice pulled him out of his thoughts after seeing his face and the look on it.

" _ **This will give the world the best chance in getting a Guardian of Gods. If there isn't a Guardian, then the world is unbalanced. You need to do this Ash Ketchum: will you accept the duties of the Guardian?"**_

"Y-Yes I w-will Arceus." Ash said, his eyes downcast and his voice low, still shocked by what he had asked him to do.

" _ **Very good. I will take my leave now. Some of my children that are most dedicated to you will be joining you in sometime, so be prepared and look after them."**_

Ash looked up once more, a smile drawn back on his face, before it was quickly wiped off when he thought about something.

"Arceus?"

" _ **Yes?"**_

"You said that you had asked every Guardian before me to do that… does that mean that my mom was part of a-" Ash stopped, reality taking hold of his words and laughing in his face as he realised what that meant.

" _ **You will have to ask your mother about that. Goodbye Ash, stay safe."**_

A bright white light enveloped the stadium, blinding the only person that could see it. When Ash was able to open his eyes again, Arceus was gone and then loud chatter started to fill the air once more.

While the world started back up again, Ash just stood there, trying to take hold of the situation: he was a Guardian that was meant to protect the Legendary Pokémon that roamed the land, the sky and the sea, while trying to spread his genes by creating a… harem.

A small tugging on the back of his shirt bought him back to reality. Turning his gaze towards the pulling he found himself face-to-face with 5 girls, all stunned and with unshed tears in their eyes. A smile grazed his lips as he looked down to see Pikachu tugging on his shirt.

"It's Ok buddy, I'm fine." Ash patted the Pokémon's head, before he looked back. They all looked happy and sad and angry and relieved and confused and-

Before he could analyse them any further, the pain hit him with the impact of train, effectively rendering him useless. Ash's legs gave way as he collapsed to the floor, being caught last minute by several pairs of arms.

As darkness started to eat way at his sight, he heard the same thing again.

"ASH!"

'Huh, this is becoming pretty normal.' He thought before going limp in their arms.

* * *

Ash had collapsed in their arms, worrying everybody in the stadium. The girls all started to panic, trying to think of something that would bring him back to them: they weren't going to lose him again, not now!

As they fretted about the boy, Pikachu got off of May's arm and onto Ash's back and retrieved a Poke ball from it. He walked back to girls with the item in his hands before he held it out to them. At first, they looked confused but then Serena took the item from Pikachu's hands and released the Pokémon inside.

Out of the bright white light erupted a Pokémon of great stature and build: green, scaly skin covered his tall body and yellow orbs balanced on its back. A red line wound its way around its stomach and a bushy tail of pine and leaves shot out of the collection of orbs: similar leaf-like-protrusions came from the top of his wrists and his head was like a snake. It opened its yellow eyes slowly, before putting a piece of straw into his mouth and observed its surroundings. It saw the group of girls, to which a smile spread across his face, but that fell when he saw his master.

Quicker than anybody could fathom, Sceptile took Ash onto his back before he stood a few feet away from the group. Tilting his head, he looked at the yellow rodent who nodded before the lizard took off at blazing speeds that left all of the onlookers confused.

First of the group to recover was May.

"Wow… now I know that Blaziken will want a rematch." She said with amusement in her voice.

After May's statement, Misty turned to Pikachu, who was sitting on the ground looking at the girls.

"Pikachu… is Ash going to be OK?" This caused everybody else to look at the yellow Pokemon, who began to nod viscously, telling them that he would be fine.

"Now…" Serena's voice broke through the crowd, before she picked Pikachu up and hugged him tight. "Why the hell did you and Ash leave us?!" She yelled while hugging the rodent, slowly taking out all the air from his lungs.

The rest of the girls let out a laugh as they watched their friend interact with their old friend. When Serena finally stopped, she looked at the small Pokémon before she said.

"Come on, let's go see him…" Her voice began to trail off at the end from nervousness. In all honesty, they were all still nervous to see him again: he did just appear out of nowhere and they hadn't even had a proper conversation with him…

As they began walking to the Pokémon Centre, May froze.

Dawn was the first to notice.

"Hey May, what's wrong?" She asked, walking up to her friend.

"Remember when I was on the beach?"

"Yes?" Iris asked, joining the conversation.

"Well… I was talking to him. And I kind of told him that we all had fallen for him." May replied, face stained crimson.

"How much did you say to him?" Misty said, suddenly quite frightened of the possibilities.

"A lot." May said, quiet and scared.

"Shit."

* * *

 **Hello everybody, thanks for reading, and once again I apologise for the shorter chapter: I will try to bring out 3 chapters in the following week to make up for my absence… I AM SO SORRY BUT SCHOOL SUCK! Anyway, thank you for reading, I will see you soon. Once again, this is the final harem:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **-Jack**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everybody! Jack here, back for another chapter and I told you that I would get another chapter out this week, I told you! However, I then see people who write 5000 more words than me put out a chapter everyday so… Yeah. Well, at least I make you guys reading happy. I just want to say, thank you for the support on the last chapter: it was the hardest for me to write so far and I thought that it might break the story a bit but you guy seemed to enjoy it, so thanks! Now, onto the review that people managed to put up before I wrote this:**

 **CuteSaraLisa: Korrina is but Violet isn't unfortunately, but hey a half isn't too bad… right?**

 **Rams34: As previously stated, she is an OC character from a reader and I don't want to tamper with her character so I will leave her as it is.**

 **Espeon44: To be honest, I kind of wanted it to primarily focus on Ash's Pokémon from his adventure but fully evolved: I see a lot of FanFictions where he gets super OP Pokémon but he already had super OP Pokémon already so why not train them up? However, I might include some more later.**

 **Jaguars35: You mean someone who will try to take the girls away from Ash? I don't know, haven't really thought about it… but I might add that in later chapters.**

 **Red the Pokemon Master: Thanks for the suggestion, but there is a reason why his eyes are black when he uses Aura that you should find out this chapter and I don't know about the hair, I'll see…**

 **Salamence989: Thank you for the compliment, it was no trouble at all.**

 **Guest (No name specified): Yeah! AmourShipping-My second favourite ship… What? AdvancedShipping is the bomb.**

 **RashidMamunur2014: Thank you and no, he isn't a psychic like Sabrina but he does have psychic-like-traits from his Aura. Hope that helps!**

 **FanFic Meister: Yep, that's why he had such an easy time connecting with those types of Pokémon. Also, I know school sucks! In the UK, we have half-terms, don't know if they are the same as mid-terms but the homework is the worst…**

 **Cavaliers23: Thanks and after what he did to Drew, I don't think anyone is going near them unless they think that they are confident enough.**

 **LonelySoul935: Thanks, I didn't want to reveal too much, but wanted to give out little bits of information. And as for the Delia being in a harem, the story gets explained in the next chapter, and it's a bit sad.**

 **SuperMario642: Thanks for the support and yeah! Team May!**

 **Pyro the Vixen boy: Yay?**

 **Guest (No name specified): Thank you for the OC! However, can you include some extra information about appearance please, I don't want to ruin your character.**

 **Before we begin, quick thanks to FlameGod99, Robert the Adventurer, ReOx, Stallion6 of DeviantArt, The Digital Assassin, VitoJoseph4, MidnightRebellion86, ChaosPhoexix123, FlamingPheonixLBJ2, MexicanHarryPotterFan, Jack512, KingdomKeyMaster97, SuperMario642, DayToRemeber14, Tyrinor, DarkSoldier41, Aipom4, KingOfTheSpirit, SquirrelLord1985, Umbrasol, Black Madness, TealGryffin, Axxelno1, VampireWalker709, Parks777, LugiaMan14, RhombaWhack, Kreeft123Xx, BlackNo.3Fan3, Kadesh2501 and Emerald Night 117.**

 **Now, onto Chapter 5!**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

Rose sat at the desk, bored.

Today was the opening ceremony of the Tournament, so everybody had to go… EVERYBODY EXCEPT THEM! Running her painted finger nails through her dyed hair, before she began to talk to Joyce.

"I might dye my hair another colour soon." She said, hoping to get the feedback of her sister. What she got, was a small giggle. Tearing her gaze from her computer, Rose looked up to meet a disgusting sight: her sister flirting with the head chef.

"For fuck sakes! Brock! You are meant to be at the ceremony, not here trying to get into my sister pants." She shot at the tanned man, voice laced with venom and terror bleeding through her every word. At the sound of his name, Brock's squinty eyes met hers before he began speaking.

"Well, Rose," He spoke her name with a smirk, signifying that he knew something that she didn't, "I am not a gym leader, but head chef. And what does a chef do?"

"Try to get into the pants of Nurse Joy's?" Rose replied, balancing her head onto her hands as her words carried a bored and melancholy response, a contrast to her words earlier.

"No! Well, I mean," He turned back to Joyce before winking, causing the Nurse to hide her red face in her hands. "But no! A chef cooks, so I had to cook food for the ceremony."

"Then, you should be at the ceremony." Rose stated flatly.

"Um… I should, but I need to be by my lov-!" Brock shouted as he grabbed Joyce's hand from guarding her face, only to be stopped by a pissed off Toxicroak that had been forbidden to come out.

"Thank you! Where the hell was he earlier?" Rose proclaimed as Joyce hurried to Brock's aid.

"B-Brock are you okay?" Joyce asked in a shaky voice… he had no pulse. "NO! Brock!" She wailed into his chest.

'She didn't even check a pulse point…'Rose thought as she stared at the scene.

As the chaos ensued, the white tinted doors at the front of the empty Centre began to open. The three heads in the room focused on the figure emerging from outside world. Like an astronaut exploring an alien world, the figure stepped in slowly, the blinding light of the sun obscuring its figure. Although they couldn't see much, they could see that it had someone over his shoulder.

As it stepped further into the Centre, it became clear that they were dealing with a Pokémon. A tall green beast stepped towards the desk, and Rose soon recognised it as a Sceptile. As for the man on its back, Rose took one look at the ripped up hat with scruffs of ashen hair sticking out of it and knew that it could only be one guy.

"Ash!" She called, rushing over to the injured boy, body drenched in blood and cuts. In her worry, she had alerted both Joyce and… Brock to her patient.

"Ash… like, Ash Ketchum?" Brock asked, sharing a jaded look with his partner before he walked over to the injured boy. Hearing the tanned man's voice, Sceptile looked over at him before he gave Brock a smirk. "S-Sceptile? Then that means that this is Ash…" Tears threatened to fall form his eyes as he walked closer to the Pokémon.

Taking a look down at the boy, Brock knew that it was him almost immediately. His hair was still of an ashen grey, but some strips were starting to change and develop into another colour. Two zig-zag lines were still painted on his face just like the day that Brock had met him. A cap still sat on his head, sealing the deal. This was Ash Ketchum: a person that Brock thought was dead.

Running over to the boy he took him from the grass-type Pokémon and hugged the limp and unconscious body. Even through his growth spurt, Brock was still taller so he held the boy in a comfortable hug before he cried into his covered shoulder.

"A-Ash… I am so sorry for everything." He stuttered out, the two Nurses standing by to watch. This continued for a few minutes, the soft sound of crying echoing through the quiet Centre, until Joyce broke the silence.

"Wait, what is that?" The pink haired nurse pointed to the strange mark that resided on Ash's body. Brock tore his red eyes away from Ash to see a black mark that was similar to a tattoo running up Ash's arms and onto his chest.

"What is this? He's been gone for 5 years and not only does he come back without telling anybody, but he comes back with a dam tattoo?" Brock smiled, tears still falling down his face as he talked to himself. Looking back towards Sceptile, he gave Ash back before wiping his tears and turning back towards the Nurse's.

"Rose, Joyce, we need to prepare a room for him and him only." Brock stated as if he was a professional doctor. At first, they were confused.

"Why does he need a separate room?" Rose asked.

"You see, Ash has something to do with Aura and Aura is very powerful when concentrated. And Ash isn't the kind of person to get a tribal tattoo, so I think it has something to do with his Aura, and if I am correct, he needs to be isolated." Brock said, a frown crossing his features as he remembered hearing about the destruction Ash's father caused when he was younger.

Shaking that thought out of his head, Brock turned back to Sceptile. "Follow me."

The grass gecko followed without hesitation, the two Nurses jogging in front of them. After reaching the room at the back of the facility, Rose opened the door to reveal a small room which held a bed, some medicine and some equipment. Placing Ash onto the bed, Sceptile went to stand by the door frame, concerned for his master but didn't want to get in the way.

Hooking him up with a few wires and putting a breathing apparatus on him, they started to monitor him from a small room off to the side.

"His heart rate is elevated and his blood pressure is dangerously high. What the hell did he do? Go and get zapped by Raikou or Zaptos!?" Rose exclaimed as she read the data.

Brock let out a small chuckle, "He's done that and worse." This statement caused the Nurses to worry about him even more. Glancing at the boy on the hospital bed, Brock began to think.

'You will be the death of me, Ash Ketchum."

* * *

 _The force of the impact nearly blew the door off of its hinges._

 _Everybody in the room look mortified at the sight of their friend: his eyes held fire within their crimson orbs, and his teeth were bared and they were sharp. Little trails of red followed his eyes as he examined the room full of young teenagers._

 _Behind him stood 5 very scared girls, all with looks of fear and terror written on their faces. They had retreated to the kitchen, watching the scene unfold._

 _Stepping into the room, his foot sounded like a colossal force in the tiny, quiet room. Aura of deep red flared up around him as he moved towards the group. Gary moved his gaze from his friend to his group, who were mostly moving back towards the walls of the young Ketchum's home. However, the young fellow that he had previously been talking to had left the room but he could faintly hear his voice in the kitchen trying to calm the girls down._

' _Smart move.' Gary chuckled to himself before stepping up to Ash._

" _Yo Ashy-Boy, why do you look so pissed? Did Pikachu bite you or something?" Gary knew why he was like this but wanted to at least try and fix this before it got out of hand: it didn't work. Both Pikachu and its Master took offence to the statement made, stepping forward to Gary before Ash picked him up by the collar and Pikachu growled at him._

" _You know why you scumbag!" Ash yelled in his face as he let one of his fists collide with the brown haired boy's cheek. Fortunately, Gary was excepting this. He knew that he was going to feel like shit in the morning before he stepped into this house but what had to be done, had to be done._

" _Fine," Gary spat out a bit of blood onto the carpet before he continued, "I know why but you are perfectly proving my point…" A fierce look of pride and betrayal became apparent in Ash's eyes as he began to yell back._

" _Proving your point?! I'll prove your fucking point when I break your fucking neck!" He screamed, rage filling every word that escaped its fleshy chamber._

 _A smile graced Gary's lips. "See? The power of a demon… the only aura to have a red tint to it was your father's, Ashy-Boy and one day, you will become just like him. You will become a mons-"His explanation was cut short when his face hit the ground at an alarming speed. A whiplash effect hit his chest when he was brought back up and thrown across the room towards the others._

" _I don't care what my father was like! I didn't even know the bastard! But you," Ash raised his gloved hand to the crowd, "Every single one of you knew about him! And now, you're trying to out-cast me for his wrong doings!" He shouted back, clenched fists of black cloth suddenly becoming ignited in a dark red flame._

 _The aura began to manifest itself into a shape as he continued to vent his rage: it began to spike around his fingers, forming a claw like form around his hand, bathing it in an unholy red light. He began to take a step forward, his companion that rested on his shoulder equally angry._

 _Gary looked at the eyes of this savage, a hollow shell of his old friend. 'I'm sorry for this Ash…' He thought with a sad smile. Looking back at the red iris', Gary Oak began to notice something strange: Ash's sclera began to darken with each step he took._

 _Until they became as black as the night sky._

* * *

Walking up in a cold sweat, Gary Oak looked around at his location.

He was in his hotel room, surrounded by comfortable furniture and a nice, comfortable bed. Collapsing onto the soft fabric, Gary let out his held breath.

'Same damn dream… fuck you Ketchum making me lose sleep…' Gary thought with a smirk before he snuggled under the covers for some more rest that he was due.

* * *

At the bottom of the hotel where the Pokémon Centre was located, a similar fate had befallen sleeping teen Ash Ketchum.

The slits in his eyes broke open faster than any bullet and filled his sight with a bright white light. 'What the fuck…' Ash thought, enquiring to both his dream and his surroundings

The walls and ceiling were starch white, with a few grey or black machines dotted around the place. A large window that erupted vibrant colours of the earlier morning was positioned above his head. Smiling at the sight, Ash tried to move his arms to brush some hair out of his eyes but he couldn't. Instead he felt two things:

He had wires and needles inside of his skin and it hurt like a bitch!

His arms were being forced down.

Taking a gaze towards his trapped hands, a smile spread across his face at what he saw: on his right side were Dawn and May, both asleep in each other's embrace while holding Ash's hand while the left side held Misty, Serena and Iris in varying positions of sleep but all were holding his hand in the same way. On his stomach, he noticed a curled up ball of yellow fuzz, a bolt shaped tail faced towards him.

As he looked at his right arm, he noticed his mark. He followed it up his arms until it reached his covered chest, allowing Ash to see some of the exploding variety of Pokémon.

'So this brand can really let me control Legendary Pokémon if I need to…' Ash thought, saddened as he thought if situation where he might need to take them over.

Shaking his head of those thoughts, Ash began to think back to his dream.

It was a recurring nightmare for him: he would go to sleep and he would relive a horrible part of that week over and over again like he had for the last 5 years. Today, it was the time when he was standing over Gary, blood boiling as he was ready to murder the boy-then-and-there but it stopped before anything proceeded.

Gritting his teeth, Ash decided that it was time to stop running away from his fears and face them.

Slowly, Ash moved his hands around the girls' smaller hands, blushing slightly when he noticed how warm they were, before he gave them a light squeeze. Within a few seconds, he saw Misty's eyelids flutter open, before she looked at her positon, shooting up to a sitting position.

Ash supressed a small chuckle when he saw her: her bright orange hair was standing on end and was messy, a small sliver of drool coming from her mouth. She looked cute. However, as soon as her eyes met his, she froze, only her hands worked as she woke up the other two sleeping girls to her left.

Ash smiled at this, and gave the right side a hard squeeze, which caused a small moan to erupt from May's mouth: it was probably from irritation but Ash thought that it was cute. Slowly, the girls began to awaken around him, all of them freezing when they met his eyes.

Of course, the last one to wake up was Pikachu, who nonchalantly uncoiled himself after a few minutes before stretching. Only then did he notice that his partner was awake.

Letting out a squeal of happiness, Pikachu ran head first into Ash's face, hugging it with enough force that Serena had inflicted upon the rodent yesterday. Letting out a chuckle, Ash patted his head before he started to speak.

'Hey buddy, I'm fine!" He laughed, causing the group around him to let out a small chuckle with him. Finally managing to pry the Pokémon off of him, the rodent sat patiently on his shoulder, excited to see this scene play out.

Taking his attention away from his companion, a sudden silence filled the air as Ash looked over each of the girls. They had all changed and developed in… many ways. Looking up at the blocked sky, Ash quietly cursed himself before he took the plunge.

Grabbing his companion's hands in his own, he started to shout,

"I'M SORRY FOR BEING AWAY FOR LONG! I WILL MAKE UP FOR IT ALL SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME, WILL DO ANYTHING! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO, JUST PLEASE DON'T-"He didn't get to finish as 5 objects collided with his body sending his further back onto the bed.

Looking up at his assailants, Ash saw all 5 girls burying their faces into his shirt and arm, even though they were full of needles and wounds. All of them looked up and started to speak.

"Those types of things can be said later." Misty started.

"Yea, we just want to be here with you…" May said next.

"To make sure that you are definitely real." Dawn said, muffled by his shirt.

"To make sure that you won't leave again." Iris managed to get out, her voice shaky.

"To make sure that you still care about us." Serena squeaked out.

Looking down at the girls, he enveloped them in a warm hug, picking them up quite easily. This one action cause them to break down into a fit of crying, staining his shirt with tears. However, from what Ash could see, they had smiles on their faces when they cried. A few tears managed to leak out of his eyes as well.

After a few minutes they calmed down, snuggling quietly into Ash's chest. Finally bringing up the courage, Ash began to speak.

"Now that we have gotten past that hurdle," he closed his eyes as he felt the pressure on his chest lighten, "I think that we can-"Once again, he was interrupted. But not by a hug: by a slap.

He cheeks were red raw and stung like Hell! Grabbing them with his own hands, he writhed around in pain as he realised what took place: the girls had slapped him. Looking up at them, he managed to squeak out.

"I-I-I thought that w-w-we were fine?"

"We are." Misty said calmly as she cracked her knuckles. 'Oh no.'

"Yea, Ash, but there is one problem." May pulled her gloves more securely onto her hands. 'Um, shit.'

"A-a-and what might that be?" He said, not realising what he got himself into.

"LEAVING US FOR 5 YEARS YOU FUCKING MORON!" They all screamed into his ears as he began to assault his body, while he was helpless underneath them.

Pikachu watched in comfortable silence from the table.

* * *

Tino, now dressed in his 'usual clothing' that consisted of a long-sleeved black and yellow t-shirt, some dark blue jeans and some red trainers, Selina and Quincy, who were arguing again, were in a rather quiet Pokémon Centre. Tino had taken off his hat and glasses to clean them while he listened to his friends argue.

"I can't believe that the person we were hanging out with yesterday was Ash Ketchum" Selina said to her friends. You see, Ash is kind of a Legend: he has seen all the mysterious Legendary Pokémon, risked his lives on countless occasions and has beaten the gym leaders in every region. And seeing what he did in the stadium yesterday only cemented his status.

"Yea, I know what you mean: we were right next to a 'dead man' this whole time." Quincy said back, head in hands at how strong this tarienr was.

"What do you think about it Tino?" Selina asked, looking at her tall friend. "You don't usually wear those clothes..."

"I don't know why, but I feel like wearing them. Also its very hot."

"I guess, but maybe if you didn't wear a fucking snow protective jacket in Kalos, you would be cooler." Quincy shot back at Tino.

Letting out a sigh, Tino finished cleaning his glasses before he placed them back on his face, along with his hat that now rested on his shaggy brown hair. "Maybe your right." He replied, calm and collected, but with a chucjle.

"AIR HEADS!" They yelled at him together.

"E-Excuse me." An unknown voice called out to them. Turning their heads towards the voice, they saw a beautiful blonde girls with emerald green eyes staring at them. She looked no older than Selina and wore a crimson red shirt that hugged her figure and frame quite well, and that was a shade darker than her plaid skirt of the same colour. A similar pair of red trainers rested on her feet.

"Hello there, what can we do to help you?" Tino replied.

"H-hello, my name is Carrie and I was wondering if could join you..." Carrie responded, looking down at her feet.

"You can if you want to, but be warned: these guys are kind of lost in their own world right now." Selina pointed to Quincy over her shoulder.

"Is it about that guy, Ash Ketchum?" Carrie asked, her voice lifting slightly.

"Yea it is... that guy is a real mystery." Quincy said, more to himself than anybody else.

"T-thank you, by the way." Carrie responded before she sat down.

"So why did you want to join us?" Tino asked.

"Well… I haven't got any friends here and you seemed like the most fun so I wanted to be friends."

"You taking part in the tournament?"

"Yea, it will be fun!" She replied, suddenly more excited.

"Well then, welcome." Tino pointed out his hand to which Carrie accepted.

"Thank you again."

"So Carrie, what-" Quincy tried to make a conversation with her but he was interrupted by a loud crashing and shouting sound at the back of the Pokémon Centre.

"What the fuck is going on back there?" Quicny called, looking back in distress before her heard several voices shout.

"ASH YOU IDIOT!"

'Oh.' They all thought.

"I pray for him, but there is nothing we can do to stop him now." Selina mockingly saluted, before the rest followed suit.

"Agreed."

* * *

 **Hello everybody and thank you for reading. I just want to say, thank you for 100+ Follows in over 2 weeks: I really mean it. Thank you so much. Anyway, I should have the next chapter up tomorrow. Yes. Tomorrow. I have the next 5 chapters planned out so that they are easier to write! Anyhow, if the OC's didn't really match up with how the creator depicted them, just contact me and I will change it. Other than thanks, thank you once more and here is the final harem again.**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **-Jack**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everybody and welcome back to the sixth time that I have used this intro… Kind of sad. Anyhow, Jack here for the sixth chapter but before that I am going to say that I should have a chapter out every other day this week/ every day. The reason? I have the week off of school and I am free! By the way, 100 favourites? You guys are crazy! I can't thank you enough. Now, onto the reviews:**

 **FlamePhoenixXBJ2: Thanks, I needed this cause I kind of thought that the smaller word count was taking away from your enjoyment, and I want to make the best story possible for you.**

 **AshKetchumDarkSide: Thanks! And you never know what might happen in the future…**

 **Guest (No name specified): Thanks for the extra information: you write a lot by the way. I will try to add him in where I can. Also, very jealous if you got that Shiny Sceptile legit: Sceptile is my favourite Pokémon so…**

 **Rams34: Hell yea! Gotta spread the love and all that.**

 **Espeon44: Thank you, I hoped that it didn't change anything in your head.**

 **Jaguar35: Maybe… probably the group of OC's that I have added but apart from that, I don't know.**

 **Cavaliers23: I have no idea: it's an OC character from Espeon44 so if they want me to add a pairing I will be happy to do so.**

 **Red the Pokemon Master: Yea… yes he is…**

 **CuteSaraLisa: Ha ha, but the Nurses like other people: I wanted to give the Nurse Joys some characters so that wouldn't be plain and boring.**

 **Aurora Wesker Fox Lord of Fire: Ha ha, sorry about that. It will be laid out in this chapter though, so I hope that clears it up.**

 **Pyro the Vixen Boy: Oh, well thank you. Yay!**

 **Mamunur Rashid: Thank, and we will learn more about the Legendary Pokémon and the role Ash plays in their lies next chapter or the one after that.**

 **Baby Roy C: Well, 2 outa 4 isn't too bad, right?**

 **FanFic Meister: Yes they are… And yea, Gary was a dick to bring up something like that…**

 **MidnightRebellion86: Sorry about that, but I did change the ending of the last chapter so he would be a bit more mature, so if you want to look over that then go ahead.**

 **Quick thanks to MicroScan, Flash Fire 325, MaximOtherOne, AnimePianistAlex, Tobias Ux Ultor, Guardian06, TailsFox100, Reader of Fate, Baby Roy C, KrishNas097 and StormingNight.**

 **Now onto Chapter 6!**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

Pikachu sat comfortably sipping a Ketchup bottle that he had found while he continued to observe Ash's torture.

It had been going on for the last 5 minutes and was one of the funniest thing that you will ever see: Pokémon Trainer Ash Ketchum getting beat up by 5 girls. And Pikachu was eating it all up.

After a more minutes of slapping, cursing, pushing the needles in Ash's arms a little bit further into the muscle, Ash decided that he needed to tell them about what Arceus told him.

Taking his eyes away from the pillow, Ash shifted his chocolate eyes to face the 5 hysterical girls. He had feelings for every single one of them: all of them were smart, sexy, cute, funny, and heart-warming plus any other positive word that Ash could find in a dictionary. Now that Arceus has asked Ash of what he must do with his… harem, he found it best to tell them his feelings now.

Apparently in that time, he had space out and was just staring at the girls, painting a thick coat of crimson on their cheeks. Eventually, they had enough and knocked him out of his day dream with a swift punch to the head.

"ASH YOU IDIOT!" They shouted as he writhed in more pain underneath them.

"Ok, ok, ok! I did a bad thing, a really bad thing, so please stop hitting me!" He managed to get out: partly from him laughing… but mostly because of his injuries. Giving up on their assault, the group of girls sat back on the rather large bed… why would one patient need a bed this damn big?

Shaking he thought out of his head, Ash's eyes turned serious. At this, everybody turned into stone, frozen by his hypnotic orbs of brown, awaiting his next command.

"Listen… you know when I was struck by lightning?" Ash asked, rubbing his hand behind his head sheepishly. The girl's faces grew a look of sadness and fear before they nodded. "Well, Arceus contacted me soon after the strike ended."

The first to realise his mistake was Dawn. "Wait… we saw you almost collapse straight after the bolt stopped."

"Yea, we came running over to you right away, so how did you meet Arceus?" May questioned, also catching on quite quickly."

"Anyone else curious as to why the God of all Pokémon visited Ash!? Just me!?" Misty shouted, causing Ash's eyes to roll.

"He came to me to talk about my Aura." As soon as the words left his mouth, all attention was on him again. "He told me that I have a special kind of gene or trait that was…" He paused for a second, "Passed down to me from my father."

When he spoke of his father, he felt the girl's handgrip the bed sheets, digging their sharp finger nails into the fabric. A sad smile graced Ash's lips when he thought of how these girls that he loved were with him through everything… well everything up to 5 years ago.

"The traits that he passed down to me through Aura was a very, very rare genetic line of DNA that binds me to Legendary Pokémon as their Guardian: Arceus called it the Guardian of Gods." Looking up from his lap, he saw the shock in their eyes. Suddenly Serena leaned forward and grabbed Ash's arm.

"You aren't leaving again, are you?" The sentence caused the same look of worry and fear to cross the faces of the other girls as well.

"NO!" He shouted very quickly, before he shrank back down into the bed. "I mean no, I am not. What I was going to say is that Arceus told me that this mark on my right arm identifies me as the Guardian and I can bend the will of Legendary Pokémon with it, if that situation ever comes to pass, but if I use it I may die as a result." Pulling up the rest of the sleeve that covered his right arm, he showed it to the girls, earning several gasps.

"Can I touch it?" Iris asked, startling Ash.

"Yea, go ahead." He smiled at the girl, causing her to smile back. Iris' tiny fingers started to trace the black mark, which caused Ash to shudder at the feeling of her hot finger tips on his frozen, hardened skin. After she finished, Iris sat back and let Ash explain the rest of his story.

"Well… Ha, the next bit is a little embarrassing… So Arceus said that I was the only one with these genes in my body, right?"

They nodded.

"So I am the only one that can spread them onto the next generation."

They nodded once more.

"And Arceus wants the best chance to have a child with these genes so…" He said the last bit quietly into his pillow.

"Ash." May said, coaxing the boy out of his cocoon.

"He asked me to have multiple 'mates' in order to have the best chance." Ash finally finished, red faced, twiddling his thumbs and refusing eyes sight. The girls turned just as red and nervous, but were jumping with joy and happiness inside: they could all be with Ash without being buried with guilt or being ridiculed.

Takin a gaze toward each other, they all nodded. Slowly siting around Ash in a protective circle, they started to speak,

"So… why are you telling us this Ash?" Misty.

"Yea, why would we have to know?" May.

"Unless you intended something…" Dawn.

"To happen that has to do with us…" Iris.

"Is that right Ash?" Serena.

"Why are you making it so it so difficult, this is killing me!" Ash shouted, burring his red face into his hands to avoid the giggling girls. Finally calming down he turned back to them.

"Fine, I do want something to happen, with all of you. You're all successful, beautiful, smart, funny, cute, and sexy, you make my life better and when I was up on Mt. Silver, you were people that I thought about constantly. Those years on that mountain taught me about loss, about forgiveness, about pain, and about how I feel about you… That snowy mountain of pain and torture let me figure out that… that I love you all, and now that Arceus has told me about this multiple mate thing, I can no longer feel guilty about it, or worry about hurting any of you… I don't know if you feel the same way but I just wanted to make that clear, sorry for dropping a bombshell like that on you after only one proper conversation but I've had that on my chest for far too long."

Finishing his speech, Ash turned back to see five girls with red faces and tears in their eyes. "Crap, I made you cry again…" he closed his eyes as he realised how stupid he was. Suddenly, he was stopped by 5 small, precise impacts to his forehead. Opening the layers of skin that held his eyes, Ash stared back up to see those 5 girls that he just confessed to, kissing him lightly on the head.

As they ended, he watched them with anticipation as they stepped back. "We didn't want to be greedy…" Dawn said with a mall giggle.

"It's funny, because we were going to tell you something similar…" Serena started.

"Ash, we will become your partners as a Guardian and live with you till the day we die." May said as tears began to fall once more.

"Are you sure?" Ash said, not really believing what he was hearing.

"We will stay by your side till the end of time if we must…" Misty managed to get out.

"Yea, we will forever and always." Iris finished off.

"We love you Ash Ketchum…"

"I-I love you too."

Quickly pulling them into his embrace they cried tears of joy in his arms. Smirking into their wild collection of coloured hair, Ash knew that this was the start of something. Turning his head, he saw a very happy looking Pikachu staring at his owner before he leapt at the group, causing everybody to laugh at the Pokémon's behaviour.

'This is a very good start.'

* * *

Above them through a few layers of concrete, sat 4 boys.

Thick layers of light bled through the small gap in the closed curtains and onto the 4 people n the room.

"Gary! We need to do something about him, and why didn't you tell us that he was Ash?!" Drew raved around like a spoilt little prince.

"Listen here, Rose Boy- you're the one that tried to get with May by assaulting her so take your medicine like the child that you are." Gary smirked in response.

"Why you! You're the main reason he forced himself to Mt. Silver in the first place! You said that he was dangerous, a monster that needed to be put down so why are you being so lenient?" Drew asked, rage filling the spaces between every word.

"Because he hasn't really shown any real danger." Gary shrugged.

"Excuse me, but he did break Drew's arm…" Trip said, cocky and confident. "And he had that red aura at the time, so of course he's dangerous."

"Would you and Rose-Boy shut up for a minute?" Paul said, calm and collected, toward Gary and Drew.

"Not until we find a solution to this Ash problem!" Drew yelled back at the purple haired boy.

"Fine, fine, we'll do something but don't blame me if we end up worse than Mr. Broken Rose over there." Gary finished, making his remark about Drew painfully clear.

"I wonder why I hang out with people so below me sometimes…"

"Shut it Rose Bud!"

* * *

Along a hallway on the 1st floor of the Pokémon Centre walked 6 figures, all extremely happy with the events that transpired. Walking in-front of the group of giggling girls, Ash began to sweat: he was going to see his mother.

He had meant to visit her yesterday, but certain 'things; kept him from doing so. A frown crossed his features as he thought of how disappointed and sad she would be: he had failed her as her son and he had left her alone for 5 years…

He was drawn out of his thoughts when a hand lightly grip his ripped and shredded hat. Twisting his eyes to gaze at his shoulder, Ash smiled when he came face to face with Pikachu. A small chuckle escaped his lips when he saw a thick layer of frost and fluff on his cheeks: apparently, Bunneary and Glaceon were just as happy to see Pikachu as the girls were to see him.

"I'm fine buddy, you ready to meet mom again?" He asked, hope and happiness very apparent in his voice.

"Pika Chu!" The yellow rodent scuttled around to the top of his damaged hat where several tuffs of ashen hair stuck out. Ash hadn't really noticed it until now but the ends of his had become a dull white, flowing and blending into the black mass of strings. Before he could delve any deeper, a voice filled the air and caught his attention.

"Ash we're here." May said to the teen, who stopped at the door he was currently positioned in front of. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the group.

"I'll tell you when to come in, okay?" They agreed to his wished, before they took a few steps down the hall. Wasting no time, Ash started to wrack his knuckles against the oak object. Not 5 seconds later, the door opened like a bullet and he was captured by a pair of arms.

He didn't need to see who it was before he wrapped his arms around his mother's small figure. He hugged her tight and cried into her hair as she cried into his wrecked shirt. And they just stood there for a few minutes, mother and son expressing nothing but open love and emotion to each other.

After a few minutes Ash withdrew from his mother's hug and stared at the older women. Her hair still had its deep red qualities but a few lines of grey were drawn into her hair, a pair of similar chocolate eyes gazed at his battered and bruised form, lines of never ending tears running down her face.

"I'm home, Mom."

"Welcome home, Ash."

"I'm so sorry for being away, but I needed to figure some things out…" He smiled sheepishly.

"Ash, you know that your mother can help you with any problem." Delia said as she pulled her son into another hug, but it was gentler this time.

"Not this one…" He said quietly to himself.

"But never mind that, look how much you've grown! How tall are you now, 6'0?"

"Ha, 6'4 actually."

"Then you must have a girlfriend by now…" She said as she pulled away and gazed at her son.

"Mom, I've been up on a mountain for 5 years…" He said, chuckling.

"You haven't denied it! You do have a girlfriend!" His mom started to jump up and down, missing the point as always.

Sighing, Ash gave up. "Yes, I do." Delia suddenly stopped when she heard 5 pairs of feet hit the carpet outside. Sticking her head past the door, she saw a group of 5 shy girls walk up to her.

"Hello Delia/ Ms. Ketchum." They said to her before they were all pulled into a hug by the older women.

"I told you that he would accept!" She said loud to the halls as she hugged them all tight. At first the girls were a little worried but then they returned the hug and celebrated with the women. Meanwhile, Ash stood with Pikachu at the door, surprised and a little scarred as to how she realised it so fast.

"How did you-"He started but was cut off by his mother.

"Women's intuition, now come on inside." She walked past he tall boy and into her room as she was followed by the girls, who all gave him a strange look and a chuckle before they walked in. As he was about to enter himself, Serena stopped him at the door.

"Ash, we are going shopping after we talk to your mom, and you are coming with us, ok? Ok!" She said very quickly, giving Ash a quick kiss on the cheek, leaving Ash stunned. After a minute of recovering, he slowly walked in after closing the door. Steeping into the main room, he stared at his group who looked back at him.

"Do I really get a choice?"

"No." His group of girls answered back.

"Ash, you do need some new clothes, look at what you're wearing now…" Delia said, examining her child's shredded shirt and torn hoodie.

"Fine." Looking around the room, he noticed that it was similar to his own: a bed, a few chairs, and a desk. The girls started talking for a while Ash stood by the door and chime din now and again until Ash thought it was time to bring up his point.

"Mom, can I ask you something?"

"Yes darling?"

"Have you ever heard of the Guardian of Gods?" As soon as the words left his mouth, she froze.

"How do you know about that?" Sighing, Ash walked over to his mother before took off of his hoodie and showed her his mark. Hearing his mother let out a sigh.

"What happened with Dad, Mom?" Ash walked back to his position by the wall, ignoring the prying eyes of his girlfriends, as he left his hoodie on the sofa.

"No, young man, tell me what happened to you first, tell me why you ran away." Delia said, refusing to cooperate. The room was silent for a few minutes before Ash started to speak, his voice low and hoarse.

"When you left to get things for the party, I came back from Professor Oaks. I overheard Gary and Brock and everybody else talking about dad and about how he was a murderous psychopath and a monster with Aura that I would become. Then I lost it. All I can really remember is nearly killing a lot of people that day, then grabbing my Pokémon and leaving. Usually, those moments come back to me in nightmares, but I don't really remember them for all that long. Then, I was on Mt. Silver, and for 5 years, I trained and survived with my Pokémon up on that mountain, until Mr. Goodshow contacted me, and don't ask me how he knew I was there. And here I am." Ash finished his story, bringing tears t the eyes of those who remembered it and to the one that didn't. "Now it's your turn."

Wiping her eyes Delia began. "Are these the girls that are bonded to you?" Ash nodded before he looked back at the group, smiling as he did so. "Okay, then. I married at a very young age, around 22, to a man named Axcel Ketchum. He was a wonderful man: handsome funny, smart, and knew how to make me feel special." Everybody in the room smiled as Delia recalled her past. "But he isn't your father."

This statement shocked Ash to his core: then who was his father? He knew who he was and what things he did but who was he to his mother. His teeth gritted against each other and his hands bawled into fists. "Girls, can you step outside please?" They nodded, respecting his privacy. Pikachu, who had been positioned on Delia's lap, also left. After they had left, he asked, "What happened, then?"

Delia grew a downcast look in her eyes as she continued. "One day, a man came through town. He had a group of about 5 women with him, all covered in bruises and scratches. That is your father. He saw me and demanded that he have me… then he took me away from my husband." Ash grew even more agitated at this discovery. "He… was a horrible and awful man. He use to hit and wound us if we defied him and he never let us have our freedom. And if we tried to run away, he said that he would kill our significant others, so we went along with him. At almost every small town, he would take another girl, threatening to do the same unless she followed him. He was also dangerous with his aura: a blood red it was, able to level cities he used to say."

Tears began to fill Ash's eyes, saddened by the story. But Ash's eyes also held fury. Black started to eat away at his sight, corrupting the light in his eye as it turned to darkness. His irises became a deep, dark crimson but he hid them with his hand. "Continue." He said in a shaky voice.

"After a year, he positioned us 15 girls around Kanto, saying that he had captured the most beautiful women in the region who wouldn't bring attention to himself. I was chosen to stay in Pallet Town. Professor Oak was there, and he helped, but I couldn't tell him." She looked at Ash, who was growing angrier and more agitated in the corner.

"Did he rape you?"

"Yes… he did. He raped all of us, and he always tried to refuse a child. But once, just once, I got pregnant. I was so happy, I could have a family. But I soon learned that the other 14 didn't make it… your father had been too rough with them and had gotten them pregnant as well: so he killed them." By now, Ash was crying hard. "Lucky for me, that was the time when he passed away, and I got to keep you and raise you and I am so happy that I did. You helped me with PTSD I received from the ordeal, you helped me through everything, and I would be lying if I wasn't scared every time you left on a journey. But I'm so happy that you are safe."

She stood up and walked over to the angry boy before she wrapped her arms around his massive figure. "Promise me that you won't do the same. Promise me that you will use this mark for good. Promise me that you will look after these girls." She said, burying her head into his clothes.

"I will mom, don't worry." He wipped his eyes, and hugged her back. "I'm so sorry…."

"Don't apologise Ash, you need the most help right now, I've gotten over it. Now go on, it's rude to keep a women waiting, especially if its 5 of them." They shared a laugh.

"Okay mom, thank you so much. I will protect them with my life if it comes to it." He said holding onto his mother as if she was going to disappear.

"That a good boy, now go on, I love you." She let go, and stared back at her son, eyes now white as snow and iris' as brown as melted chocolate.

"I love you too." He gave her a kiss on the fore head before he waved her off as he left.

'He's grown up so much.' Delia thought as the door closed on her.

Stepping out towards his girls, he saw them conversing and chatting happily. Smiling as made a vow here and now.

'I will not become my father. And if he is still around. I will kill him.'

* * *

 **Wow… that got deep near the end, huh? Anyway, I am sorry if anybody has gone through anything like that, my heart goes out to you. Thank you for reading this chapter of my story, I want to thank you for your ever growing support. Here is the final harem once more:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **-Jack**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everybody and welcome back! And yes, it is Jack, not some weird creepy demon form Hell… or his friend. But seriously, thank you for the growing support on this story: I am really enjoying writing it. And yes, I will be trying to get a chapter out every day this week so fingers crossed that happens. Now, onto the reviews:**

 **MidnightRebellion86: Yea, it was pretty deep… I wanted to explain why Ash's mother was in a harem, but Ash had no siblings, and that also could allude to why he has the name Ketchum without his real father being called Ketchum. And it was fine, it wasn't that hard to fix your OC, I'll make him more mature in the future.**

 **BigInferno: Thank you, and the rest of the girls will have their 'chapter' where we see what they are up too in a little while, so don't worry.**

 **RashidMamunur2014: Wow… thanks. I'm glad that I could make your day better! And yes, Ash's father will play a large part in the story, but in due time!**

 **Guest (No name specified): Still, it's a shiny Sceptile! Also, it's cool that you write so much and if you want to send in more Pokémon, go ahead!**

 **Rams34: Probably, but later in the story: I'll probably do another poll or something…**

 **Jaguars5: Yes! The OC's creator gave me permission to pair her… you know what? I'll keep it a secret…**

 **Espeon44: Thank you for the pairing for your OC's, by the way! Now, it depends where the story goes but they will probably battle at some point.**

 **Cavaliers23: No? I don't think so…**

 **AshKetchumDarkSide: Yep! And sorry, but like I said, I might include more girls later on.**

 **FanFic Meister: Thank you for that quick run down! You sound like a news reporter, but those over the top ones in America, not the ones in the UK that are really boring.**

 **Salamence989: Thanks for the double support! Really, thank you.**

 **TheWriter755: Wow, thanks. I'm glad that you are enjoying it, and I will hope that your own story goes well: I'll probably look into it when I'm not tied down with school.**

 **Quick thanks to Ste565, Jimmyle311, MangaLover4321, AleKing74, BigMaseTheDon, Joda-EragonsSon, StarCarnage, Smaster687, Eshakrani, Donosi, TheWriter755, CaptainMikeAllen23, FlipTag and Tp74.**

 **Onto Chapter 7!**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

Ash Ketchum was trapped in the 10th Circle of Hell: he was bare and without his essentials as he fought against the foes that were attacking him, monsters and beasts of no self-control forced new identities and skins onto him. White statues of men and women stared back at him as his torture continued on and on for what felt like eons.

Ash Ketchum was shopping.

Currently, he was standing in a clothes shop while his five new girlfriends picked out a selection of jackets, hats, jeans, trainers and shirts for him to wear. Usually, he would be grateful… problem was, he was paying: they hadn't even told him that they had no money until they wandered into this hell hole.

Sighing for the thirteenth time in ten minutes, Ash looked back at his mates with a smirk. They were collecting several collections of clothes that all varied and changed in colour and style, but stuck to the same sort of concept. Glancing each girl up and down, Ash decided that he would take this time, the 2 hours that he had wasted so far, to scrutinise their own style.

Misty had swapped her 'swimming leotard' and over coat for something much more to her roots: a long sleeved sea blue shirt wound its way up her torso, while a pair of black overalls were secured tightly around her shoulders that lead down to some dark blue shorts, finally ending in a pair of black trainers. The outfit showed off much of her pale skin, but Ash didn't really mind….

Changing to May, Ash noticed that her outfit hadn't changed all that much: instead of a blue and white bandanna, a black and dark blue piece of cloth replaced it. This was the major change through every piece of clothing, like how her shirt was the same, but the green and orange had been switched with the similar black and blue, ending in her usual black bike shorts and black and blue shoes. She had gotten several looks from preying eyes on her way in, which Ash couldn't fault because she was a very beautiful women, but Ash knew that she was uncomfortable from the way she acted.

Next to her was Dawn. Like Misty, she had chosen to wear something similar to what she use to wear: a black waist coat hung securely around her top, with streaks of red through the item. Her skirt was a bright red, and that led down to a pair of red boots and black socks. A black beanie also sat on her head. To Ash, it reminded him of Sinnoh, and that made him smile.

Behind them, trying to remain hidden, was a very bored Iris. Like Ash, she didn't really like shopping, but she did care about Ash so, she went along with the plan. A plain grey jumper lay snuggly around her body, and a pair of purple cargo shorts sat at the top of long, slender legs, while some purple and white trainers ended her look. To Ash, it was a tamer version of what she use to wear in Unova, with an urban twist.

Finally, there was Serena, probably the most fashion-conscious out of the five. Her precious pink hat was not on her head and had been replaced by a long sleeved black, checked shirt with red indents and sleeves. A strange, dark black corset wrapped itself around her waist which travelled down to a red, lined skirt, ending in some purple-black socks and black shoes. Ash was kind of surprised that she had managed to throw this together in the short time space they had before they went shopping, but Ash just shrugged it off.

Finally breaking out of his gaze, Ash wandered over to the group, seeing as he was still in his wrecked clothes from yesterday.

"Hey… are we done yet?" He asked, a hint of nervousness to his voice, knowing that they would kill him if he made the wrong move. To his surprise, they all responded with a nod of the head. Taking that as a sign from Arceus, Ash grabbed to large collection of clothes in their hands and proceeded to walk to the counter.

When he reached the white piece of marble, he turned around to see the girls giving him a wave… a wave which suggested that something was wrong. Turning back, the man behind the counter just glared at the teen before he began scanning the clothes. After a few minutes, due to the vast amount of cloth, the price came out to be around-

"50,000 POKE DOLLARS!" Ash shouted at the top of his voice, as his eyes read the digits over and over. Turning his head round, he say the girls acting very innocently, not really caring about what he just said. "Unbelievable…" He muttered before he paid for the clothes and left.

Seeing him depart, the girls quickly caught up to him, grabbing by the hand and dragging him, quite forcibly out of the shopping centre. Their excuse was that they wanted to see him in his new clothes, but Ash was happy that they were out of Hell…

They got back to the Pokémon Centre pretty quickly and when they walked in, Ash saw a face that he was very happy to see. Managing to get out of the girls grasp, Ash went over to a rather tall, tanned man with spikey hair. Smirking as he saw Brock indulging in his favourite past time of chatting up women, Ash decided to make himself known.

"Wow, Brock. Never thought that you had it in you to woo a girl over, congratulations." He said with a smirk, his voice earning the attention of one such man. Swiftly turning his head, Brock also smiled.

"And I never thought I'd see the day where you would come back alive, so we're both surprised." He quickly said before taking the teen into a hug. "It's good to see you Ketchum."

"It's good to see you too Brock, and don't think I didn't catch you crying yesterday just cause I was asleep!" Ash chuckled as he saw Brock's face drop when he left the hug

"Hey, don't judge." Brock quickly smiled back before he noticed the presence of the girls behind the boy. "Oh, hey girls, how are you?"

"Good/Fine/ Okay." Were the responses that followed. Meanwhile, Ash said hi to Rose and Joyce, who Brock was talking to momentarily.

"How are you two?" He asked casually.

"Good, but you gave us quite the scare yesterday when your Sceptile came in, brandishing you on its back like a broken weapon." Rose chuckled back. Ash smile, recounting the event when he woke this morning to find Sceptile keeping watch outside, a smile present on his face due to the sounds of Ash getting beaten half-to-death inside the room.

"Ha, sorry." He quickly said.

"Don't worry about it." Joyce responded.

"Ash Ketchum." A new voice made itself present and drew everybody out of their induvial conversations to look at this new person. A smile grazed his lips when he saw Tino, Selina, Quincy and a new girl that Ash didn't know, standing there with smiles on their own faces. "Nice to make your acquaintance." Quincy said.

"Nice to see you too." Ash aid, walking over to the group and leaving the others quite dazed.

"Um Ash, who are they, if you don't mind me asking?" Iris asked, a tone of nervousness cut into her words.

"These are so people I met before the ceremony. They're pretty call, although I don't know your name…" Ash said, directing his eyes towards the blond haired girl.

"I'm Carrie, nice to meet you." She said back, smiling.

"Likewise."

"So, Ketchum," Selina's voice made Ash turn his head toward her, "How long were you going to avoid us, we were beginning to feel a little lonely." Selina said, her smirk just as wide as Quincy's.

"Only a few more hours…" Ash said back.

"Tch, player." Selina said, gazing at the girls behind Ash. Looking back, Ash say a blush present on all of their faces. "So I'm right then?"

"Shut it." Ash responded, cool and collected but a smile grazed his lips.

The sound of sliding doors interrupted their talk, and Carries face lit up before she ran over to the person who just walked in. Out of the light, stepped a male about 2 inches shorter then Ash with wild, crazed black hair. Piercing blue eyes that matched the ocean made themselves apparent, along with a grey t-shirt and dark grey jeans with black trainers. On his shoulder sat an Eevee, who looked excited and happy.

"Shadow!" Carrie called out, before she jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing the boy into a hug.

"Hey Carrie, sorry I was late." He said with a soft smile. The Eevee then hoped onto Carries shoulder and began nuzzling up to her, purring as it rubbed a fuzzy cheek against her own. A laugh escaped her mouth as she petted the Pokémon.

Looking back at the crew, Ash simply shrugged before he started speaking. "Now, I'm going to sleep, so enjoy your reunion." He said, looking out the window at the setting sun.

"Alright, seeya Ash, goodnight." Brock said, leaning up against the desk.

"Goodnight." The girls cooed, before each giving him a swift kiss on the cheek, causing red to invade his features. Looking back at everybody that witnessed the event, he spoke in a cold tone.

"Shut it. Goodnight." He said, walking up to his room, leaving a room full of laughing trainers in the room. When he left, Brock turned back to the girls.

"So, care to tell us your dirty little secrets." He said with a smirk. At first, the girls were a little hesitant, but then they remembered that Ash had told them that they could tell a few people, due to Arceus not telling him that it was secret.

"Well, it started at the stadium…"

* * *

Ash walked into his room to see a sleeping Pikachu surrounded by Ketchup bottles on the floor. Sighing, he threw his bag of clothes to the world before he picked up the sleeping ball of yellow fur and put him onto the end of his bed.

Stripping down to his boxers, Ash threw on a long sleeved muscle shirt before he walked over to the window, a frown coming to his face as he began to recall the day.

" _He… was a horrible and awful man. He use to hit and wound us if we defied him and he never let us have our freedom. And if we tried to run away, he said that he would kill our significant others, so we went along with him."_

" _After a year, he positioned us 15 girls around Kanto, saying that he had captured the most beautiful women in the region who wouldn't bring attention to himself."_

Ash gritted his teeth and hands at his mother words: this man was pure evil and even though his mother had told him that he was dead, Ash could still feel this burning presence that was following him about. Making the same vow that he had done earlier that day, Ash closed the curtains and crawled into bed, letting sleeping overtake him. Tomorrow the competition started and Ash needed all the strength he could get.

Outside on the streets, a figure dressed in dark robes stared up at the teen as he closed his window. A devilish smile crossed his features as he began to chuckle lightly. His hand began to coat itself in a dark red aura, matching that of Ash's when he got provoked. Throwing down his hood, the head of a Pokémon dressed in a tribal style could be seen at his back.

" _ **Ash Ketchum… are you prepared to meet your maker?"**_

* * *

 **Well then… thanks for coming back and reading once again! Sorry for the shorter word count, but tomorrow, the tournament starts and then the real action begins! And just to say it, yes, I do have an identity for Ash's father, but it is unexpected and you won't find out for some time… I am so evil sometimes. Thank you for reading once more and here is the final harem (for the moment):**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **-Jack**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everybody and welcome back… wow this intro gets kind of boring after 8 chapters, but no matter! Jack here today for another fun filled chapter of laughter and friendship… or of Pokémon Battles and chaos, whichever you prefer. Now, onto the reviews!**

 **MidnightRebellion86: Yep, short and sweet, and watching any guy go shopping with a group of girls is funny… you'd have to ask my friends how it feels though because I barley leave my house.**

 **Rams34: Yea, bad guys are bad guys and Ash is the 'hero' so…**

 **Jaguars5: You spoiled my bluff! And yes, Shadow is dating Carrie and another OC that we will see later, and possibly Selina… the OC's creator said that I can pair them so ship I shall! Also, no? I don't think that they are enemies.**

 **Espeon44: I don't know, probably when they become closer to Ash and his group. As for them being jealous, I don't know either, I'll see how it goes.**

 **Cavaliers23: That… is a secret.**

 **Red the Pokémon Master: I like that idea… I might include that. But one question: are you doing it just so that YOU, Red the Pokémon Master, can be in the story?! Blasphemy!**

 **FanFic Meister: It was meant to be a compliment about how you're very energetic and exciting, but yes shopping is nightmare fuel for us guys… but like previously stated, I barely get out of my house to experience that nightmare.**

 **Jimmyle311: But hey, Ash can trust them, right? Right?**

 **AshKetchumDarkSide: Thank you, and yes: very interesting indeed…**

 **Guest (No name specified): Yea, shiny is a shiny, apart from hacked shines, they suck. And YES! MORE WRITING!**

 **Baby Roy C: I plan to reveal them in a few chapter time, after Ash has a date with each of the girls that he has now, but then it will be their time to shine! And as for replacing, it was a fan vote to have Skyla in so I won't replace her, but I might include the people you suggested later on, never know.**

 **RashidMamunur2014: Thank, and I am also happy that I am uploading every day, it's very relaxing. And don't worry, PIKACHU WILL BE REVIVED! Metaphorically speaking…**

 **SuperMario642: Thanks and yes, I'm really surprised how this story has grown and I can't thank you guys enough!**

 **Quick thanks to Windfall1412, TheGamer24, S** **armientoJude and GalaxyWarrior 96.**

 **Now onto Chapter 8… wow, 8th chapter?!**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

Sunlight bled through the cracks in Ash's eyes, hitting the soft, brown irises and making Ash rise from his bed. Looking around for the light source, Ash saw Pikachu standing by the window, opening the curtains in order to wake his master. Ash smiled at the small Pokémon, before he surveyed the room, stopping when he found a bag of clothes.

Checking the time on a clock that lay by his bedside, Ash noted that it was around 10:30, so it was another late morning. Racking his brain for answers, he remembered that he made plans to meet up with the girls before the first matches started. Ascending form his comfortable bed, Ash wandered over to the bag.

Taking a look at the clothes inside, Ash picked out a nice selection: he chose to wear a white v-neck underneath a black and yellow collared jacket, layers of yellow outlining the pockets and the end of the sleeves, which ending about half way down his arm due to Ash rolling it up: this showed off part of his mark to the world. Like usual, Ash insisted that he only really bought black jeans, so a pair was position on his legs, ending in a pair of black, yellow and white trainers. On top of his head, a black and white cap with yellow tribal designs on the sides could be seen. Noting his appearance in the mirror, Ash smirked.

"Wow… they really like colour co-ordination." Looking at the rest of the items, Ash noticed that they were the same as what he was wearing now, but in different colours: red, blue, green, inverted black and white, they really had thought of it all. "How the hell did it take them two hours to pick these out?" He questioned, looking at his yellow companion, who just shrugged before taking his position on Ash's shoulder.

Walking over to the door, Ash felt something nagging at the back of his mind, tugging on his spine and making it shiver. Checking the area with his aura vision, he noted that here was nothing wrong, although the feeling never went away. Looking at Pikachu, he could tell that his companion felt the same way. Ignoring it, Ash bottled the feeling up and grabbed his back pack from the hook on his wall, before he departed.

As his feet fell onto the marble floor, that feeling never went away: it was like someone was following him. Picking up his pace, he chose to exit down the stairs. Hopping down form one level to another, he heard doors opening above him. Panicking, Ash started to sprint down the stairs, missing them where he could. This is the point where he was thinking.

"Why the fuck did Rose and Joyce move me to the top floor!? The bottom floor with that room next to all the gym leaders was pretty nice but no! I asked about why I was there once, and they send me to the highest floor on the fucking building."

Finally reaching the bottom floor, he finished his monologue and checked over Pikachu. The yellow rodent's fur was standing on end, static electricity zapping Ash's skin from time to time, making his skin crawl. Pikachu's teeth were bared and his claws were digging into Ash's jacket. Petting the Pokémon to calm him down, Ash wandered into the main space.

As soon as his feet touched the floor, 5 figures wandered up to him: the first thing Ash noticed was that they were wearing the same thing as yesterday, so they must've washed their clothes.

"Hey Ash!" They all sounded with happy smiles.

"Hey girls, good morning. "He said, not wanting to drag them into his problems.

"We're fine but I think that Brock wanted to talk to you anyway." May chimed in.

"Ok, thanks." Walking over to the man in question, Ash say him sitting down in one of the many comfortable chairs that adorned the Centre. Joyce was also with him, making Ash smirk. Tapping the distracted man on the shoulder, he signalled that he was here.

"What's up, Brocko?" He called to the man. Twisting his head, Brock smiled.

"Ash, how are you this morning? Nice threads by the way."

"Fine, and they are nice. Good job by the way but how did it take you two hours to find these?" He directed the last bit at the girls, who looked away with embarrassment. "Probably voodoo magic or something." He chuckled.

"Ha, still a joker. But Ash, we need to talk." Brock's voice turned serious, causing all attention to fall on him.

"What are we talking about then?" A thick layer of tension coated the air, blocking out the sounds of breathing or walking.

"About how Arceus gave you a permission for a harem! How are you so lucky!?" Ash just stood there stunned, that was Brock's big revelation that he wanted to talk about?

"Really Brock? Really? I thought that this was something important…" Ash growled, annoyed that Brock was wasting his time. However, Brock just chuckled.

"Nah, I'm only messing with you. I really want to know more about those eyes, I heard they became black and blue when you used aura." Brock finished.

"Yea, well apparently that's to do with my father's genes: his eyes changed to black when he used aura as well. It fits to be honest: an evil man gets an evil look. But some books say that when an Aura Guardians eyes become black, it shows that their spirit or Aura had been broken beyond repair, but I don't really believe in that…" He said the first part through gritted teeth, while the second part he said with a strange sense of curiosity in his voice.

"What about that strange mark on your arm?" Brock asked, eying the tattoo like etching on Ash's right arm.

"Oh, that's fine, I can tell you about-"Ash stopped when he heard the elevator chime, signalling his eyes to join the sliding doors. Out of the metal casing exited a man of around 6'5 with a hood and a mask covering his face. Ash got suspicious.

Switching his sight, he took a look at the man's aura: it was on alert, suspicious, heartrate sporadic and strange. What caught Ash off guard, was when Serena called his name.

"Um, Ash? Why is your arm glowing?" She asked, pointing towards his right arm. Looking down at his own arm, Ash could also see that his use of aura had turned the black lines into dancing rivers of blue that matched his aura. They weren't still, either: they moved and acted like a liquid under Ash's skin, a liquid that he couldn't feel. However, Ash could feel a significant change in his aura. Looking at the man, he focused in on him… then he heard a voice.

" _ **I am so ready for the tournament! With all the training that I did, I can probably pick up a few chicks and can even beat that Ash Ketchum guy… Shit, he's looking this way…"**_

Ash's mouth stood open in awe once more: he had just read that guys mind. Looking back at his arm, he wondered if this was a new ability that his mark gave him. As he stood there, his 'midnight eyes', as he had heard some people dub them, disappeared into their old pearly white and chocolate colour scheme and his am stopped glowing. Tearing his gaze away from his arm, which also faded back to its original black, he turned to look at his group who were staring at him with intrigue and awe.

"Well that's new."

* * *

It was now 12:00, the time when all trainers would report to the stadium to see their first match up.

After Ash had explained his mark in more depth to both the girls and Brock, his group took their leave as they wanted to get some alone time in before he tournament started. Now, he was standing in the locker room, waiting for the first match ups to appear on the board: Pikachu had decided to go with May for the event, a situation where Ash had said:

" _Wow Pikachu, 5 years on a mountain really has strengthened our relationship, hasn't it?"_ He had asked with a sarcastic tone to his voice, only to be met by a fierce glare from Pikachu and a chuckle from the girls. After they gave him another round of kissing on the cheeks… in public, Ash had gone to the locker room, where he now resided.

However, he was also thinking about that presence earlier on in the day. Judging from where he was in the Pokémon Centre, it could have been a higher up like an Elite 4 or a Champion because they were the people most likely to stay in that kind of environment, but then Ash recalled that everything was fine when he checked his aura. Either someone at this event was really good at supressing their emotions or someone at this event was a master at aura…

"Yo, Ash." The voice of Quincy drew him out of his thoughts. Looking towards the voice, Ash noticed the regular group of cretins, plus Carrie and Shadow.

"Hey guys, what's up?" He called back, decided to hold out on his detective work for now.

"We were just waiting for the match ups when we saw you, you don't mind, right?" Tino said, looking at the teen.

"Nah, go right ahead." Turning his gaze, Ash's eyes met Shadows. Suddenly, said man's eyes turned quite hostile towards Ash, startling the teen. "Um, hi. I'm Ash." He nervously waved to the boy, only to receive a harsh 'Tch' back. Tuning back to the others, he muttered something that sounded like 'stupid emo kid' before the voice of Mr. Goodshow broke through the speakers.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Tournament of Champions, and to the first day of preliminary rounds! For the next 3 days, each trainer taking part in the tournament will take part in a series of battles against each other, narrowing down to the top 8 contestants. They will then battle against each other i fight against each other, narrowing it down once more to 4. Following that will be the semi-finals, where the challengers will fight until only 2 are left to fight for the title of Champion!" Mr. Goodshow shouted into the mic, and Ash could hear the crowd, even from where he sat in the locker room.

"For the first 3 days, all matches will be a 3 on 3 situation, substitutions allowed and a trainer can forfeit at any time. Now, time for the match ups!" Every pair of eyes met the electronic board as I cycled through the names and faces. The first face to pop up was Ash's. A loud thundering roar was heard throughout the crowd when he was chosen, signifying that he was the favourite. A sigh left Ash's mouth before he stood up and walked onto the field.

Ash didn't really care about who his opponent was at this point, he just wanted to get this first match over with so that he could continue with his investigation into who that mysterious presence belonged too. Stepping out onto the rocky terrain, Ash was met by hundreds of screams and cheers, some praising him while other booed him, although there weren't that many. Looking at the crowd, Ash noticed a few familiar faces: there was obviously gym-leaders and other trainers that he had seen before, and he could see his old rivals who were seething away in a corner, watching him with hate filled eyes. A smirk crossed his features when he saw that and it only widened when he saw his girls in the front row cheering him on. He waved at them before he walked over to his stand.

"This i battle with challengers Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and Mythias King from Lumios City!" Ash took a quick look at his challenger: he had blond hair and an arrogant smirk on his face. His clothes looked quite regal, but also quite urban: depicting crowns and swords on his clothing. Ash did not like him.

"Oh, so you're Ash Ketchum? Doesn't look like much, I'll crush you easily." He said, clearly full of confidence and swagger.

"If you can hit me, go ahead." Ash called back, straight-faced and calm. This caused the stadium to go quite, excited from the upcoming battle.

"W-Why you! Go Aegislash!" He threw a Pokeball from his belt and out of the light came the Ghost/ Steel type Aegislash. Ash looked at the sword Pokémon: its handle and blade were rusty and overused and the shield looked weak. This guy clearly didn't look after his Pokémon.

"I'm sorry that you have such a bad owner, Aegislash. Go Staraptor!" Ash called out, sending his own Pokémon into the fray, Out of his own ball of light came a beautiful bird, feathers well-groomed and head piece a rich red. His beak was sharp and his eyes were sharper, talons that could cut through concrete and steel stood perched on the earth.

"Star, star!" It cooed to its master, who smiled at the bird type Pokémon, giving it a pat on the head before the battle began.

"Let the battle… BEGIN!" The referee shouted.

"Aegislash, use **Aerial Ace**!" Mythias cried out, the Pokémon changing stance as he called the move before it shot out like a bullet at its enemy. Meanwhile, Staraptor stood there, motionless, waiting for the impending strike.

"Staraptor, **Steel Wing**." Ash called out as Aegislash got closer. However, Staraptor knew exactly what Ash meant, and used its now metallic wings to block the oncoming attack, trapping the sword within its wings. "Now, fly around the stadium at low altitude." Ash called out, and the bird took off, catching the sword between its talons before dragging the blade across the rocky round. Ash could hear the crowd cheering, but could hear them very well: he was too focused on the battle.

"W-What? **Kings Shield**!" Mythias cried, attempting desperately to ty and free his Pokémon.

"Separate the Sword and the Shield, Staraptor." The bird did exactly as it was told, and held the shield in its talons, while the cloth that connects the two dangled down and allowed Aegislash to keep receiving damage.

"Now finish this up with **Brave Bird**." Staraptor soared high into the air, swinging the cloth that held the damaged Aegislash as it went, creating a spinning sword of terror before it dived towards the earth. As it got closer, it let go f the sword Pokémon, letting it collide with the ground. When the dust cleared, Aegislash was sticking up, blade in the ground and shield out of reach as Staraptor hit the steel type, sending shockwaves and another layer of dust throughout the stadium. After the dust storm settled, the crowd could see an unconscious Aegislash next to a near perfect Staraptor. It was silent for a few seconds, before cheers erupted.

"Mythias' Aegislash is unable to battle, Ash's Staraptor is the winner!"

* * *

In the stands, the girls stood entranced.

"Was Ash always that smart?" Misty asked, the little snide comment coming out as if on instinct.

"Unfortunately, I don't think so." Iris called back, leaning forward as she watched Mythias grow angry and recall his Aegislash, while Staraptor flew back over to Ash, who stroked the bird's feather as he congratulated it.

"Yea, but he has come up with good strategies before, like with the spinning technique he adapted to defeat Fatima." Dawn bought up.

"Or when he used the Lighting Armour combo against Liza and Tate." May also said.

"Well, let's see what happens next." Serena said, smiling while she stroked Pikachu's fur.

* * *

"God damn weak Pokémon." Mythias said, regarding his Aegislash. Ash heard it, but decided to let it slide for now. "Do better, Aurorus!" A large dinosaur-like Pokémon came out of the light this time, but Ash remained stoic.

"Do your best Staraptor." Ash said to his Pokémon. This shocked a lot of people, 'he is going to use a flying type against an Ice/Rock type?!' Even Mythias was shocked.

"Round 2, start!" The referee called out. Craters from the previous encounter littered the stage as Aurorus took its stance against Staraptor.

"Aurorus use **Avalanche**!" A barrage of ice and snow erupted from the ground as Aurorus roared, sending waves of ice towards the bird.

"Staraptor, **Quick Attack**." A calm response was heard and to everybody's surprise, Staraptor dashed head-on towards the blocks of ice. When the eagle's head hit the columns of ice, a quick blur of grey and black later was quickly followed by many little cubes of ice. "Now, **Close Combat**." Another blur later and Aurorus was being thrown around the stadium by an invisible force that was as fast as lightning.

"A-Aurorus, **Ice Beam**!" Mythias called but weakly, knowing that is useless. The dinosaur tried to breathe out the beam but failed miserably when it collapsed to the floor.

"Staraptor, finish this off with a **Brave Bird**." Staraptor ascended to the skies once more before he descended just as fast, hitting the dinosaur on the head, summoning clouds and clouds of dust. Once more, the audience stood in anticipation as they waited for the result. Eventually, the dust cleared to reveal a predatory Staraptor standing on top of his prey.

Cheers erupted once more. "Mythias' Aurorus is unable to battle, Ash's Staraptor wins!" Returning the injured Pokémon, Mythias had to give up is pride.

"I forfeit." He said weakly, drawing the referee's attention.

"Mythias has forfeited, Ash Ketchum is the winner!" More cheers could be heard as Ash ran up to Staraptor and petted the bird as it nuzzled against the teen, sending laughs erupting from his throat. Choosing to perch on his left arm, Ash walked up to Mythias before he held out his right hand.

"Good match, but look after your Pokémon a bit better." The boy looked up, before taking his hand and shaking it slowly. After the handshake, Mythias left down his corridor with his head down. Turning back to the crowd, Ash waved a few imes before turning to Mr. Goodshow who smiled back at him.

"The first match is over! Ash, you will be recalled tomorrow for your second match." Mr. Goodshow called out to the teen. Bowing his head, Ash then returned Staraptor and left down his corridor.

Exiting the hall, Ash was met by 5 figures running into him, nearly sending him to the ground. Looking down, he smiled before embracing his girls in a warm hug.

"Congratulations Ash!" They all cried, attracting the attention of everybody else in the locker room. They gave them a weird look, but Ash just shrugged and went back to embracing his girls. He heard Mr. Goodshow announce the next competitors but didn't care.

However, there were two voices that took him out of his embrace.

"A-Ash?" Turning his head, his mouth was opened, attracting the attention of the rest of his girls. Directing their eyes to where their partner was looking, they also looking stunned at the people who stood there.

"W-What are you two doing here?"

* * *

 **Muhahaha! I am so evil! Thank you for reading this chapter of my Pokémon Fanfiction. The real reason for that ending is that I was looking at the harem, and I thought that it needed some spice, some more life! So, if you don't mind, I would like you guys to recommend someone out of the box for Ash to be with: the reason is that I was looking at a bunch of other harem stories and many of them have the same characters so I am going to add several people, or one singular person, which ever takes my fancy I guess.. I would like your help with this but you do not have to: the maximum number allowed in the harem will be around 14, so 2 spaces again but like I said, whatever takes my fancy. Also, sorry for the crappy battle, it's not really my specialty… Thank you for reading once again and here is the new harem for the time being:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **P.S: I did change this a day later to include Anabel so... deal with it...**

 **-Jack**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everybody and welcome back… I need a new intro. Anyhow, I want to thank you guys so much for 100 reviews, your feedback and support has helped me so much and I can't express how much I owe you. Anyhow, that brings us to 100 in the reviews, Follows and Favourites and, like I said, I can't thank you enough, really. Now, onto the reviews:**

 **Emerald Night 117: I might be Cynthia, never know…**

 **MidnightRebellion86: Thanks, and I will take that into consideration. And Alexa will be in next chapter, I promise! It's just kind of hard to fit in at the moment, but I will make it work out in the end, so don't worry.**

 **Rams34: Ok, and yes, they will.**

 **Espeon44: I was looking at them actually so I might include them. And yes, Shadow will be his main rival, if you don't mind me using your OC like that.**

 **Jaguars5: Yep, but I won't tell you who he battles just yet.**

 **Raiders89: Probably, haven't made my mind up yet.**

 **Cavaliers23: Thanks for the opinion.**

 **Cardinals44: Thanks for the opinion.**

 **RashidMamunur2014: Yea, a cliff hanger… And I'm sorry that the curiosity will kill you, I really am. As for my update schedule, until the end of the week then probably 4 times a week at the least: I'll try to stay on my toes for you guys!**

 **Broncos18: Thank you for your opinion.**

 **AshKetchumDarkSide: It is quite rare, to be honest: I haven't seen that many with all 5 main girls but hey, it makes this story unique so… And as for Aria, I'm thinking of adding her in, you know, to add that challenge like you said.**

 **SuperSonicBros123: Like previously stated, I will probably choose her to be honest: I do like her character it's just trying to figure out story to be honest.**

 **FamFic Meister: I was thinking about her as well due to how she teases Serena but also likes him herself… THIS IS SO DIFFICULT!**

 **Guest (No name specified): What I meant was when you use hacked Pokémon in battles, you could with friends I believe, and they sucked in those kind of battles but when playing through the game normally, they're fun. Duplica, huh? I'll see what I can do…Also, it was just a coincidence and thank you.**

 **Salamence989: Triple good luck.**

 **Quick thanks to KarlosYung, BlackFlameSword4, JoshuaCrockford, Blade1986, HarlequinPhoenix, ThommoDoesntCare, Zero Restraints and Activator.**

 **P.S: The two people in the harem will be revealed in this chapter, just saying… Also, yes TWO people. I changed it so that Anabel would be back in it after decided the either two people that would be in the harem: it was just too perfect! You'll see what I mean later. Sorry if that confuses or annoys some people, I am really sorry.**

 **P.S.S: I did change some stuff around with the ending of last chapter so go catch up with that real quick if you don't want to be confused. APOLOGIZES ONCE AGAIN!**

 **Now onto chapter 9!**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

"A-Aria? A-Angie? What are you two doing here?" Ash said in a sporadic and confused tone.

"That's a bit rude, don't you think?" Angie replied, tears coming to her eyes as she spoke. "You leave for 5 years and the first thing that you ask is why we're here… typical."

"Yea… after that stunt 5 years ago, you have some nerve pulling that out on us…" Aria replied with the same vigour and tone as Angie, but the tears in her eyes betrayed her. Struggling out of his girls hold, Ash wandered over to the two broken females. He stood quite the bit taller than them now, so they had to look up to meet his eyes.

"Sorry, it's just a little strange being back. I am happy that you are here though, don't get me wrong." A smile grazed Ash's lips as a few tears began to collect in his own eyes. "I am really sorry."

Then their façade broke, their masks that protected them from hurt and sorrow and pain collapsed and all of their feelings were released. Running into his chest, they both clung to the white cloth like it was their last life-line and sobbed into his chest. Wails and cries erupted throughout the empty locker-room, everybody having taken the liberty of moving to a separate room to wait for their turn to be called. Ash saw the next trainer come into the room and look at them weird, but he just narrowed his eyes at the boy and he quickly left up the hall.

Tiny droplets of water hit his skin and spread a chill throughout his body. Casting a gaze over his shoulder, Ash smiled when he saw his girls giving him a compassionate and loving look. Holding the two girls closer to him, he bought them into a warm embrace as their sobbing slowed down.

"W-we t-t-thought that w-we l-lost you, A-Ash!" Angie buried her head of green hair deeper into his chest, soaking the fabric even more than it already was. Her tiny finger gripped onto his black jacket hard, turning her knuckles white.

"I-It w-was all o-over the n-news, w-we attended a funeral for you, Ash! A funeral!" Aria cried back, cementing her pinkish-red hair just below his shoulder. Unlike Angie, her hands were pounding Ash's chest as if she was punishing him for 5 years of neglect.

Turning his head back once more, Ash stood stunned at their reactions: all of the girls had turned their faces away, whether from sadness or embarrassment, but Serena looked at him and mouthed 'I'll tell you later' to him, before sending him a sad smile. Turning back to the two girls that he currently held captive in his arms, he leaned down and gave each of them a small kiss on the forehead.

"I'm sorry." After a few more minutes they had calmed down and had struggled out of Ash's grasp, but met him with smiles that contradicted the red rings that lay under their eyes. As they stood in front of him, they all inspected each other and their appearances.

Angie still had her forest green hair but it was more tame and a little loner, just down to her jaw. Her amber eyes still held fury and happiness that Ash had seen back at the Pokémon Summer Camp in Sinnoh, and the multiple times where he had visited her when he was just travelling around on his own. Her skin was the same tan colour, probably from working at the day care all the time, but her clothing was different: a light green jumper rested in place of her old shirt and a pair of grey joggers covered her legs. A simple pair of green and white running shoes rested on her feet. It made her look more mature, even though she hadn't really changed that much,

Aria's pinky-red hair still rested below a hat and went down to her mid-spine in the form of two tails. However, the hat she now wore was a cap, a pink and black cap with a Pokeball on the front. Ash thought about why she changed from her old hat, but had a pretty good idea. Her red eyes were still framed by black glasses and her sin was still a pale white, similar to Ash's own skin. A short-sleeved dress shirt covered her torso, and was a deep red in colour, matching her eyes, and a pair of long black trousers covered her legs, starting at her waist. On her feet, were a pair of black shoes similar to Serena's: same make most likely. Ash had seen Aria around Kalos quite a few times when he was travelling with Serena, Bonnie and Clemont.

And to Ash's dismay: he had fallen for these girls as well.

To Ash, they were both full of life, and beautiful and enthusiastic so they were just as perfect as Misty and May and Dawn and Iris and Serena… but it filled him with guilt when he thought about them like that.

"Can you two go wait outside a minute, I'll go on a walk with you after I talk to the girls." Ash said, pointing to those behind him, who smiled and waved at the two girls. "OK? I promise not to run away." The two of them looked at each other, before they smiled back and went to wait outside. Sighing a breath of relief when they left, Ash felt the presence of 5 girls behind him.

"What do you want to talk to us about?" Misty asked, concerned.

"He likes Angie and Aria: don't you?" Dawn asked, knowing the look on Ash's face. Looking back towards the girls, his face was stained red and his features showed guilt.

"I-I do… but I feel bad for it: it feels like I'm betraying you." He said, his voice shaky. The girls were kind of surprised by his response: he didn't want to hurt them. Walking up to him, they smiled back at him.

"Arceus told you that you had to have multiple mates, right? So don't feel guilty." May said with a smile.

"But still…" Ash muttered, still not wanting to hurt these girls.

"Ash, its fine. Go on." Serena said, giving Ash another loving smile. Turning around, he pulled the girls into a hug, a warm embrace that reminded them that he was still their mate even if he bought other girls in.

"I love you so much." He muttered into the varying colours of hair. The sensation alone left shivers down the girl's spines but what he said bought heat to their cheeks and ears. After a few minutes, he let go of them and smiled back, before he started to walk out. "I'll be back at the Pokémon Centre by five o'clock, ok?" They nodded in reply. Ash let out another held breath before exiting the locker room.

* * *

Angie and Aria were quietly standing by the stadium entrance. The two had gotten here on the same day and found out that they would be staying in the same dorm area so they decided to hang out and try to find Ash. Actually, they had known each other before yesterday… due to the funeral.

Blocking that thought out of their minds, the 17 year-old and the 19 year-old turned to each other and gave a nervous smile before Angie initiated the conversation.

"What do you about that weird tattoo that Ash has now?" She said, clearly referring to the mark given to Ash by Arceus, but they didn't know that. In all honesty, neither of them were really looking at the mark when they had stepped away at Ash: they were seeing how much he had matured physically in his height, build and face. It certainly was a more developed Ash Ketchum, but it was still Ash Ketchum.

"I don't know, but I think that there is a story behind it." Aria said back, waving at some people who noticed her form her Poke-Videos back in Kalos. For the past 5 years, Aria had been building up her fame while helping a struggling Serena with her goal to become Kalos Queen. Unfortunately, Aria herself had fallen from grace a bit: she was no longer Kalos Queen but she was still a famous Poke-Video star, but after the funeral, things just went downhill. When she had heard about Ash's 'revival' she was shooting something, but needed to be flown over to the event in order to see him.

Angie had been doing the same thing for the last 5 years: looking after the Day Care with her parents. However, her parents had been getting older, and after Ash's funeral, Angie became depressed: sometimes, she would become sick and would not be able to look after the Day care. She had been training her Pokémon whenever she could, but her Shinx decided that it didn't want to evolve, so Angie respected her wishes. However, life was hard when Ash left her life, even though they only met every so often throughout Sinnoh, those times at Camp always remained in her mind. She had been watching the Opening Ceremony with her parents when Ash revealed himself. She had cried for a good few hours, before she packed her bags and said that she was going to go see him.

"You think so? Maybe it has to do with what happened during the Opening Ceremony?" Angie hypothesised. After Ash had revealed himself at the opening ceremony, the world reported on it almost immediately: things like 'ASH KETCHUM RETURNS AFTER 5 YEARS' and 'ASH KETCHUM LIVES' were the most common headlines on the TV or the papers.

Just as they were getting into their conversation, said raven haired boy stepped out of the entrance. Directing their eyes to meet his, they smiled at him before he nodded his head towards the pathway, signalling them to join him for a walk. The sounds of Pideys and Fletchlings filled the air as the trio walked throughout the city, skyscrapers allowing some light to bleed through the cracks in the sky.

"So why did you come here, if you don't mind me asking? You taking part in the event or helping out?" Ash asked, still not really getting the hint as to why they were there. A blush spread through the girls faces as they gulped.

"Um… You." Angie and Aria said quietly, burying their heads into their hands. Smiling a little, Ash returned to the pavement, but snuck his hands to the girls, who were on either side of him, before he interlocked their fingers as they continued to walk. The blush only deepened on the two girls.

"Ash… do you have a girlfriend?" Aria asked quietly wondering about his large collection of female friends.

"Yes." A frown crossed their features slightly, upset by the serious of events. "But I need to talk to you about something revolving around you, the girls back at the stadium and this." He let go of their hands, which caused them to pout slightly, in order for him to lift the sleeve on his jacket, showing off his tribal mark.

Suddenly, that filled them with confidence, with hope: something might happen after all. As they walked, Ash started to feel that same feeling as earlier fill his mind. Twisting his head, he noticed a large distribution of people on the path that they walked… Still on edge, Ash grabbed the girl's hands again, startling them, as he picked up the pace.

A few minutes later, they reached a lovely park that overviewed the beach: green tress of emerald littered the small space, benches and statues situated around the green land. Taking a seat on the stone railing that separated the sea, Ash sat the two girls down on the bench opposite him: this way, he could see if anything suspicious was happening around him.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about, Ash?" Angie asked, pulling her sleeves up over her hands, before leaning on them awaiting Ash's story. Aria also leant forward, intrigued by Ash's explanation.

"Well… you guys saw the Opening Ceremony, right?" Ash asked, his eyes focused on the, but he was still on edge, waiting for any shady business that larked in the background.

"Yea, the video cut off after the match though…" Aria said, growing more and more curious by the second. Taking in a deep breath, Ash began.

"After the fight with Drew, I was struck by a bolt of lightning."

* * *

 **And there we go, Chapter 9! Thank you for reading and once again, sorry for the shorter chapter but now you know! Now. You. Know! Yes, I have chosen Angie and Aria for the harem… I bet a few people will be happy about that choice… one in particular. But not hating or anything. The reason why I chose these two is because I want to try something new, and Aria is relatively new: she is also on the same goal as Serena, and has been shown as a role model for her so seeing their dynamic in a relationship with the same guy will be interesting to write. As for Angie, I found out that she had a canonical crush on Ash… Like, wow. I know I haven't watched Diamond and Pearl for a few years but wow… And she and Ash have great chemistry together: they like the same things and act relatively the same so she goes in the harem as well. Now, I re-included Anabel because… ALL OF THEIR NAMES START WITH A! No… that isn't the reason. The real reason is because we have Anabel from Hoenn, who may would reconnect and know, Angie from Sinnoh, someone that Dawn can connect with, and Aria from Kalos, someone Serena can connect with. Other kinds of these relationships also happen in the harem already, but these are a lot more defined and concrete. Also, Anabel has a canonical crush on Ash as well, so I kind of had to include her. Once again, I apologize if this is sudden or my re-inclusion of Anabel annoys you, I really am sorry, but I want to thank you with the inclusion of Aria and Angie as I probably wouldn't have thought about them without you guys. Thank you guys so much for reading and here is the final harem for now:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Angie**

 **Aria**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **-Jack**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello everybody and welcome back! Still haven't thought of a new introduction but no matter! Again. Anyway, Happy Halloween if you are reading this when I upload it…Or when I was meant to upload it. I don't really like Halloween so that's all that you are getting: if you want to know what I am scared of for some trivia or something, it is the Ocean and the Dark… They are terrifying. Now, onto the reviews:**

 **Rams34: I don't believe so, but Serena does look up to Aria because she was the Kalos Queen and that was Serena's goal, so it's more of that kind of relationship.**

 **Espeon44: Thank you for letting me use Shadow, and I don't know, maybe later on: I don't really like Salvia but I might include her later on.**

 **SuperSonicBros123: Thank you, and when I said that May and her can connect, it was because she was with Ash during that time period when he was at the Battle Frontier.**

 **Raiders89: Yes and no.**

 **Jaguars5: Well that would be spoilers, would it not? And probably…**

 **Wizard2: Like previously mentioned, maybe, Paul will appear and Quincy will be shipped with Alexa as requested by the OC's creator.**

 **RashidMamunur2014: Well, I like surprises… Actually I don't really like surprises.**

 **Red the Pokémon Master: GoggleShipping I haven't really looked into, but BootlegPearlShipping just isn't something that I like for some reason: maybe it's because I couldn't watch the full episode due to me cringing every time Salvia was on screen- I hate it when there are two of the same character and one does something while the other has to pay, things like this make me skin crawl and it is also the reason why I hate clones… This turned into me rambling, didn't it?**

 **AshKetchumDarkSide: God dammit… God dammit.**

 **Emerald Night 117: Oh well- maybe in the future!**

 **Guest (No name specified): That's okay, and you will see your OC very soon actually, probably within the next 2 chapters. Thanks for the extra information by the way.**

 **Heat3: Well, there is only one real bad guy when you think about it, and that's Ash's father but maybe… maybe…**

 **God Emperor of GAR-Halla: It was irredeemable, and yes it was hilarious: I like that have that split within my stories- comedy and terror/ tragedy.**

 **Reader of Fate: Thanks.**

 **DarkMachines: I may include those later, but I wanted to show off Ash's awesome Pokémon collection that he has already. However, I did not include Lucario because it is usually a Lucario that trains Ash's Aura and refines it, but I wanted Ash's Aura to be uncontrollable and untamed in this story and adding a Lucario in would raise suspicion as to why he hasn't been able to control it yet.**

 **FanFic Meister: Yes it was unexpected.**

 **Eddy: Yes! May No.1! But they will all probably be the same, but I'll see what I can do… Also, I added a hint in one of the earlier chapters about Pikachu's relationship with Glaceon and Bunneary.**

 **Quick thanks to God Emperor of GAR-Halla, AwesomePossum15, McBrads, Kamen Rider, EuDog3, Bemstu600, TheShadowSpartan117 and Happy34112.**

 **Now onto Chapter 10!**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

Ash looked towards the two girls in front of him.

He had just sat down for an hour straight to explain everything that had happened to him. They had cried, they had laughed, they had blushed and now they were silent. The Sun hung low in the sky, casting bleeding rays of light out onto the island and the waves crashed onto the rocky terrain below.

Looking behind them at the green, luscious landscape, Ash watched the street as Angie and Aria sat in silence. That spine-chilling feeling disappeared about half-way through the story, but the teen had to stay on guard. On the beach beside them, families, couples, children, athletes, trainers all congregated in the same place to escape the madness that came with the stadium. Most of the battles had finished but a few still went on: even from where Ash sat on the stone barricade, he could hear the roars of the stadium.

Taking off his hat, he placed it down beside him before bending over backwards to see the ocean: waves of clear blue rolled and shook while white fallen clouds danced on top of the liquid. Placing a gloved hand behind his head, he closed his eyes, and allowed him some time to rest. After a few more minutes, a gentle tap on the leg. Curling his neck, he looked towards the two girl, both of them stained red. The curiosity in Ash's mind got the better of him eventually.

"What are you two blushing for?" He asked, confused and worried that something might've happened. Instead, they simply shuffled around on the wooden bench, diverting their eyes away from his.

"W-What you said about this harem thing…" Aria began, but was too embarrassed to finish. Ash kind of knew where this was going now.

"Yes, it is true. I am destined to be with one than more partner, so I am 'programed' to love more than one person." He replied, stoic and calculated but he was having trouble burying a smirk.

"How many people can you l-love?" Angie asked, finding her voice. Shaking his head, Ash looked at the floor.

"Don't know: probably hundreds." This response shocked the two girls. "Whatever it takes to get my genes across to the next generation. It's a shame, though, because I always feel guilty when I like other girls when I have 5 girlfriends already: it makes me seem dishonest." Ash said burring his face into his hands. The two girls looked at each other. They nodded once. Then the moved to the wall.

Positioning themselves onto the tough stone structure, they rested their heads of contrasting hair colour onto his broad shoulders, wrapping their arms around each of his arms in a strong hold: their bones acting like the foundations of a lock. Lifting his head up from his hands, Ash looked down at the two girls, a blush coming to the trio's faces.

"What did they say to you about it?" Angie asked, quietly sinking her face into Ash's clothed bicep, muffling her words. A smile grazed Ash's lips as he looked at her.

"They said that they were fine with it, but I still feel un-loyal, you know? And if it's not the multiple mate's thing itself, it's who I want to be involved." This time, a shuffling came from Aria's side, who looked up at Ash with a curious spark present in her eyes.

"What's the problem with who you like?"

"Nothing's wrong: they are all beautiful women with amazing personalities but I feel selfish." Ash said, his eyes downcast as he tried to process the current situation in his head.

"Don't feel selfish Ash, you're a great guy who's caring and passionate and cute." Aria said, blushing the whole time.

"You've saved so many people, you've been through Hell and back but you're still here and are surviving through it: if anyone was worthy of Arceus' 'blessing', it's you Ash…" Angie said, lifting her own head off of Ash's arm to meet his eyes. Taking a deep breath, both girl positioned themselves apart from Ash, sitting on their knees for extra height before two pairs of lips hit Ash's cheeks.

"And you've stole out hearts as well." They said together, lingering on his skin for a few seconds before leaning away, blushing furiously, opting to look out at the ocean. Inside his mind, Ash was doing cartwheels- this was absolutely perfect. Wrapping his arms around the two petite girls, he bought them into a hug.

"Remember earlier, when I talked about those beautiful women that I had fallen for?" He asked, a smile present on his face. They only nodded in response, seemingly losing their voices due to the evens that were transpiring. "Well, two of them were you." Ash said, a blush coming back to his cheeks.

Two mouths gaped open when they heard this information: Ash liked them back. Looking at his eyes, they could only see truth and love. Tears burst from their eyes before they collapsed into his chest, sobbing into the white fabric once more. Another smile came to Ash's face as he played with their hair.

This was a good day.

* * *

Walking out of the stadium, the girls stretched their arms before letting out a heavy sigh.

They had decided to stay behind for the following matches and they were a lot of fun, but nothing could top Ash's fight: it was amazing. Looking at the time, they say that it was around 4 o'clock.

"Ash should be coming back to the Pokémon Centre in about an hour, want to head back?" Dawn asked, bringing up a valid response. They all looked at each other before nodding and smiling. As they were walking out onto the street, however, a small girl dived onto Serena's torso.

"SERENA!" Bonnie cried burying her head of blond hair into Serena's chest, hugging her tight. Said girl was a little worried at first, but calmed down and hugged the girl back.

"Hello Bonnie, how are you?" She asked, happy that she could see her friend again.

"GREAT! I and Clemont and Alexa just watched the fights and they were AMAZING! ALL OF THE POKEMON WERE SO CUTE!" Her squealing caught the attention of the surrounding populous, causing them to glance at the duo, but they soon moved on. Bonnie's noise also attracted the group of girls over.

"Hey Bonnie!" Iris said as she went over, earning herself a beaming smile from the young girl. The others said something along the same lines, also earning them the same response.

"So… did you guys see Ash?" Bonnie asked, growing quieter by the word. From where she was standing, Serena would see tears springing at the edge of Bonnie's eyes: to the young girl, Ash was a role model just as her brother was. There had been so many times where he had done something brave and daring to save someone and Bonnie had looked up to Ash because of it. However, after his funeral, she became more unapproachable, deciding to train with Dedenne rather than spend time with anyone. She had gotten better in the last few years, but it still hurt. Said electric type was sleeping in Bonnie's bag that was slung over her shoulder.

"Yes we did. In fact, we're going to go see him now: do you want to come with us?" May perked up, attracting the attention of the blond haired girl. Like a lightbulb, Bonnies face lit up in a heart-warming smile, free from worry or care.

"Really?" She asked quietly, smiling even though she had a few tears spring free form their prison.

"Yep, 100% truth. He's going to be at the Pokémon Centre around 5." Misty said, smiling at the young girls antics. Once again, Bonnie exploded with joy: her face was bright red from happiness and her cheeks could barely contain her smile.

"Thank you! Thank you!" She giggled, hugging all 5 girls tight, causing several laughs to erupt from each of the girls. Two pairs of feet made themselves known to the group and when they turned around, the saw gym leader of Lumious City, Clemont, and famous journalist, Alexa, standing behind them.

"So this is where you ran off to, Bonnie?" Alexa remarked, stifling her laugh.

"Bonnie… why did you have to… run away like that?" Clemont asked, huffing from a lack of oxygen. He still wasn't good at running… he was beaten by a 13 year old when he himself is a healthy 18 year old.

Suddenly, he was being dragged away by a small hand that belonged to Bonnie herself. "No questions! The girls said that they were going to meet Ash! Come on let's go!" The blond girl cheered to her equally blond brother, whose face froze before it broke out in a similar smile as Bonnies. Turning to the girls, his previous fatigue was lost.

"Really?!" He shouted at them, full of enthusiasm. They nodded in response. Turning back towards his sister, they both smiled bright before they took off in a run towards the Pokémon Centre, Bonnie leading the way like a lamp. A sigh filled the air as Alexa walked over to the group.

"Where do they get it from?" She asked, even though tears stung the corner of her own eyes. "So is he really back?"

"Yes he is, Alexa." May spoke with happiness in her voice.

"Then what are we waiting for! Come on!" She took off in her own run towards the Pokémon Centre, following Bonnie and Clemont. The girls watched on with confusion…

'And she asks where they get it from."

* * *

 **Hello everybody! Thank you for reading- sorry for the shorter chapter but homework calls once more, unfortunately. So, Ash has two more additions to the harem officially: Angie and Aria. Don't worry, the next two chapter will show what the other girls have bene doing since the Opening Ceremony and how they plan to approach Ash. I want to thank you all once again and here is the harem once more:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Angie**

 **Aria**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **-Jack**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everybody! And, I don't really have an excuse: school is hard but I could write but I felt my writing style slipping in the last few chapters and that was kind of getting to me so I had to take this time off. That is very sad. For that I apologize. Finally, I just want to say thank you for all the support and all the feedback that I have received off of you, it really means a lot. Now, onto the reviews:**

 **MidnightRebellion86: Thanks! Also, thanks again for understanding.**

 **AshKetchumDarkSie: Yes, the joke did make me laugh and I don't really know: I can't think of anyone at this point but maybe later.**

 **Espeon44: Probably, but that will be in a more chilled out chapter where there isn't much going on.**

 **Rams34: Thanks, and can I ask you a question? Why does everybody like Salvia so much? It's just a question, not trying to be rude.**

 **Raiders89: They'll each go on dates with Ash, and no… Selina is not evil.**

 **Jaguars5: Probably just Pikachu because… it's Pikachu but I don't know, maybe. And yes, they will.**

 **Cardinals44: Yep, out of that OC group, they would be the two that you would consider rivals, but I guess all of them are each other's rivals…**

 **FanFic Meister: Yes, I know that but I am trying to find a way to incorporate it into the story seeing as some of the girls that Bonnie has said that too are with Ash now, but I'll find something. Thanks for the suggestion as well.**

 **Astros1: Yep.**

 **Guest: Don't mention it! And I had a shit Halloween but that doesn't matter.**

 **Baby Roy C: I will try to write longer chapter in the future but this week has been kind of hectic so I haven't had time but I will use your advice.**

 **RashidMamunur2014: Yeah… well…**

 **Red the Pokémon Master: Yep, you are 100% accurate with that analysis. Also, thanks for the suggestion, but is that Shauna from Hoenn or Kalos, just need specification.**

 **Quick thanks to Killer999, SkkyFish, VoidKnight, ShadowKnight77 and Let's Try This.**

 **Onto Chapter 11!** **P.S: This chapter gets quite graphic** **.**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

That feeling came back to Ash's mind as he embarked back to the Pokémon Centre; it had disappeared about an hour ago but now it was back. Said teenager was currently walking hand-in-hand with two females known as Angie and Aria. However, this feeling was different than the other times. During the other times, he had felt scared, threatened by something unknown to him but now, it felt like that presence was breathing down his neck, chilling his spine to the bone and freezing it to his skin: he felt as though someone had a knife to his throat and if he made one wrong move, he would die. But, he dealt with feelings like this daily when he was on Mt. Silver: the cold, the feeling of danger but what had him here, was that it felt like someone was trying to hurt the girls beside him as well as himself, that if he made a bad decision, they would have to pay his price.

Picking up the pace, Ash was keeping an eye on the crowd as he went. At the sight of anyone suspicious, he narrowed his eyes to deter the would-be attacker. In fact, Ash's whole Aura gave out that vibe of 'If you come near us, I will slaughter you' but that seemed to work just fine as no one had come near them. He felt as if he was on a knife's edge and was ready to go berserk at any moment to protect his mates. In the background, he could hear them quietly conversing, talking about Pokémon or Ash or the island or something. This small piece of information seemed to put Ash's brain to rest for a while, their words acting like a sanctum for this madness.

" _ **You will fail, Ash Ketchum."**_ A voice broke through the hollow armour of Ash's mind, a slimy voice drenched in venom that had corroded away any humanity from his voice. His voice box was broken, melted by the toxic and refused to cooperate, giving him a deep voice that broke and scratched. Claws of poison scratched at Ash's brain, threatening to break it into chunks of useless flesh or shards of broken sanity. _**"You will never find me, so stop trying. Why don't you give me those girls as a payment, then I might leave you alone? Lead them into that alley-way to your right if you want to confirm your transaction."**_

This phrase sent Ash overboard: give up his mates? Give up the people he loves to this mad man. No, never. His eyes darkened, sinking into his skull as midnight took over his vision, and he could feel the blood boil in his veins. Crimson took over the chocolate, the flames of fury in Ash's eyes so hot that they threatened to eliminate the brown colour almost entirely. Black turned to the same realm of red on his arm, the mark lighting up like a bulb of scarlet. Now, he was being over protective. Now, he was the mad man. Now he was going to be the one who kills someone today.

The bright hue erupted from Ash's arm bought gazes from onlookers, who all met his eyes before their souls seemed to vanish from their bodies, locking all use of their bodies off. However, it also caught the eyes of Angie and Aria.

"Ash." Angie called out, a tone of fear to her voice.

"Ash." Aria said, slightly louder. Their voices acted like cement for Ash's mind: this is what this traitorous scum wanted, these pure, innocent girls were going to be kidnapped, raped and probably killed and Ash wouldn't let that happen…

"ASH!" Two voices broke through Ash's nightmarish dream, causing him to look at them, rage and fire still existent in his eyes. Looking at the scarred looks on their faces, fear etched into their eyes made Ash die inside: he had made the girls who he loved fear him. Releasing their hands from his grasp, Ash took a few steps back, before his eyes met the floor, the darkness in them not gone.

Even after he had hear faint footsteps making their way towards him, Ash looked at the stone paved street. He had failed, he had let them fear him, and he had turned into that monster that he had turned into five years ago…

A pair of soft hands on the side of his face, forced Ash to meet their eyes. They no longer held fear or loathing like he had fought, they held compassion and worry.

"Oh, Ash." Aria muttered, coming forward to look at his eyes in more depth. He hated them, but she seemed to indulge in them, intrigued by his misshapen and distorted eyes.

"We're here for you, you know that right?" Angie asked, coming close to bring her head to his chest. Tears broke through the thick layer of crimson and threatened to spill but instead, Ash willed them away before taking the girls into his arms.

"Thank you." He breathed into their hair. They stayed there for a few minutes, passing citizens staring at the odd mix of ashen, green and pink hair that stood in the middle of the path. After they had finished, Ash's toothy grin broke through his features once more.

"Come on, we're close." He said, grabbing their hands and started running, all three of them laughing and giggling all the way. However, while they were running, Ash caught a look at himself in one of the shops windows: his eyes were still black. This had happened a few times, usually when immense protection override every inch of his body, but it had always disappeared a few moments after the threat was gone. So why were they still present? Shaking his head, he turned back to see the girls still laughing so he played along with the act, hopping that they wouldn't find it suspicious.

Eventually, they reached the branded hall of heroes, and slowed down to a near stop, Ash braced his muscular frame into a crouching position to catch his breath. Behind him, he could hear the quiet pants of his female company. Glancing up at the Pokémon Centre, he grabbed the girls by the hands, intertwining his fingers between their own, causing an outburst of crimson on their cheeks. Slowly, they made their way towards the sliding doors.

Not 2 seconds after the doors opened, a pack of savage beasts attacked 2 out of the three, dragging Angie and Aria off to converse in the corner, while Ash smirked at their persistence. Looking around, he noticed that they were the only ones in the Pokémon Centre, aside from Rose and Joyce that is. Giving them a small wave, they waved back. Positioning his back against the marble, Ash let out a sigh: this was going to be one crazy month.

Under his skin, the muscles in his arm started constricting and burning, drawing the young adult's attention. Dancing and weaving throughout the deep cuts were a series of dark blues and purples mixing and convulsing into one, slowly spreading up his arm like a stream. Suddenly, he was losing oxygen, his mind was collapsing and his organs were failing. He didn't exactly know how or why, but he just knew. Throwing himself off of the wall, he began to stumble out of the centre to get some air, hoping that it would clear it.

Breaking through the thick layer of sky, Ash breathed in heavily, his once shallow breath becoming forgotten to the lifesaving sensation of fresh air. Chucking himself to the floor, he lay on his side, facing the sun as the air filled us his body and his nerves regained their senses.

"W-What t-the fuck was that?" He breathed out, watching the small slivers of Sun drift below the clouds. Darkness slowly eclipsed the land and Ash's electrified arm acted as the most powerful light source outside of the Centre. Some onlookers looked at him strange but continued on their travels, assuming that he was just insane. Grabbing at the dirt with his hands, Ash started to push off of the earth, rising to his weary feet like a fallen giant.

However, fate had a different ending for him.

Now, he was opening his eyes from a never ending darkness, only to meet a series of small lit up street lights, giving off a faint orange slow onto the cobbled pavement. He was back on the ground, a thin line of drool escaping his gaping mouth.

"No, really. What the fuck is going on?" The words tumbled slowly out of his mouth, collapsing on to the ground the same way he must have done. Shaking his head, he pushed himself off of the ground once more, successfully rising to his feet again. Gazing back, he saw the lights off in the Pokémon Centre, meaning that it was closed. _Strange…_

Deciding that he needed another walk to calm his nerves, he walked off into the night with only the bag on his pack that contained most of his Pokémon. Walking underneath one of the lights, he looked about the streets. No-one. No lights were on in any of the houses, no noises filled the air. Placing a tired hand to his head, he yawned, still surprisingly tired.

" _ **You okay there buddy? You need to take a little nap?"**_ That voiced stopped all movement from Ash as he heard footsteps getting closer. A chill entered his spine as the figure spoke once more, right on the back of his neck. _**"We can go back to the Pokémon Centre is you want. Be with you little harem… oh wait."**_ He can to cackle, so loud it almost burst Ash's ear drum. Spinning round at neck breaking speeds, he saw nothing but the cover of darkness, coating the air in a thick mist.

"W-What did you do to them?" Ash asked, frightened and alone. He couldn't even distinguish reality from fiction anymore because it sounded exactly the same as their previous interaction. The cackling got louder.

" _ **Come and see."**_ Ash could hear the grin in his voice.

And off Ash started running. It didn't matter where, but he had to find them. He sprinted for what felt like hours, the world blurring past as he ran, looking down every alley, every window to find something, ANYTHING that would tell him where they were. The dull colours that he could see were slowly mixing together as he began to run out of breath and the chains of fatigue wrapped around his body. Collapsing to the floor, he felt the cold through his gloves and the evil rotted beneath these streets.

He heard the voice again. _**"You're so funny to watch. Reminds me of watching you when you were younger…"**_ _No._ _ **"Yes."**_ The heavy sound of laughterstarted up again, but Ash could hear it below him, but also to his right and to his left and above him and behind him. Screaming out in agony, Ash sprinted forward, ready to collide with whatever was ahead. He felt the wall. He felt it fall underneath his weight. He felt it smash into his face.

Teary eyed, Ash ran his eyes off of the floor and towards the sky, seeing nothing but a dark corridor ceiling. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself off the cold and into the dark room. Limping toward the back end of the hall, he heard more laughing and… moaning? So many thoughts rushed to Ash's mind all at once and his eyes threatened to burst out of his skull. Picking up his pace, Ash dragged his broken body across the eroding tiles, what used to be pristine white fading into darkness. The laughing got louder. The moaning got louder. Eventually, a door made itself know to his eyes, red raw from his tears. Propelling him into a sprint, he smashed into the steel head first once more, supporting himself on entry this time.

And what he saw killed him.

Pinned against the wall by ropes of steel were Misty and May, stripped and beaten. Blood ran all the way down their naked bodies, cuts and scar colliding with a white, gooey substances mixing in with the crimson that made Ash sick to his stomach. Semen excreted from every entrance. Eventually Ash could take it. He emptied his belly onto the cold floor beneath his feet, not stopping for a second. His wrenching didn't even draw a breath from the girls. Finishing off his waste, his chocolate eyes glazed over their own: half open, drowned and blue around the rims. Tears freely ran now. But what he quickly noticed… is that they were remaining silent. Horror drew itself into Ash's features as he turned his face to his right.

There was the mysterious figure, masked and all, pounding into Angie while he slowly beat a weak and battered Aria. Ash could help but gag again, finalising his messy puddle of vomit on the ground, the strength leaving his arms, as he curled up next to it, unable to take his eyes off of the women he loved. Arias pink hair was coated in red, while Angie has thick streaks of white painted into it. Their breasts covered in semen and blood stood exposed to the world, bouncing up and down with painful effort as the figure kept assaulting them. Cries of pain and agony escaped their mouths, sending shivers down Ash's spine.

He was watching his mates get raped, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

Glancing at the perpetrator, he saw he tilt his head towards the teenage boy. He talked to Ash, but didn't stop. _**"Ah, how good of you to join us Ashy-Boy."**_ He was wearing a black mask, embroidered by red jewels and gem stones. His eyes were covered, but he could see the satisfaction through the fabric. _**"You wanna take a swing at them, or should I just continue on myself?"**_ That same smug, arrogant tone rolled off of his hidden tongue, ploughing deeper and deeper in Angie maiden-hood, causing her to scream and shout.

"Y-You're going to pay for this…" Ash didn't even care if this was a dream or if it was reality anymore: this person was hurting them and he would not stand for it. Slowly raising a shaky hand towards his backpack, he took hold of one of the Pokeballs, only for it to burn his fingers at the touch. Gritting his teeth, he threw the out of his pack and to the floor. Under his broken, soulless eyes, Ash stared in agony as the ball of red and white collapsed in on itself, shattering into shards of smooth glass as it hit the ground. A sob broke free from his throat as he reached up to touch the glassy fragments. Making contact with the pieces, blood began to pour out of his hand, the razor sharp material digging deep into his palm and into the muscle hidden below. Glaring back up at the figure, a chuckle escape the man's lips.

" _ **Absolutely pathetic: can't even take his punishment like a man. Just like,"**_ He stopped before blowing off inside of a screaming Angie, who collapsed onto the cold ground head first: her tiny feet and hands curled up around her naked knees next to Aria, who had passed out from the pain. He continued, _**"Just like how these girls can't last a few rounds without going limp on me… Typical."**_ He grabbed Aria by the hair, shaking her awaken. _**"I THOUGHT IT WAS THE GIRLS WHO WERE MEANT TO PLEASURE ME! SO WHY AM I THE ONE DOING ALL OF THE HARD WORK?!"**_ He yelled at her face, tears leaking out of her once bright red eyes. Forcing her to the ground, Ash watched in anger and pain as he unhinged her jaw with his gloved hands. He was about to assault her once more, until a throaty sigh escaped her mouth.

"P-Please… just s-stop." These few words broke Ash's heart and he could see grin forming under that fabric mask.

" _ **Stop? Stop? STOP!? WHY SHOULD I STOP!? YOU'RE ALL SO PATHETIC JUST LIKE YOUR WORTHLESS EXCUSE FOR AN AURA GUARDIAN!"**_ The masked assailant shouted back in rebellion, smacking her hard enough to leave a mark for days. Running his thin nails across the tile, Ash tried to ascend, pushing his body past its limits in order to protect these girls. However, a pain like no other shot through the nerves in his arms, setting them a light and causing him to dance around sporadically on the floor. Tearing his eyes down to his mark, only to see it move and change, the black lines cutting across and up his arms, and he could feel it approaching his face from his chest. Another thick layer of laughter. _ **"You really are useless… Why in the world did Arceus choose you? Now, if you excuse me: I have some new toys to play with."**_

Ash watched as he stormed back over to one of the women he loved, and force himself down her throat, tears escaping her eyes as darkness began to cloud over his eyes, sending him into a never ending sea of despair and torture.

* * *

Breaking through the ocean, Ash was met with a bright white light that enveloped his face and his form. His lungs were breaking and his chest was collapsing in on itself. The teen tried to steady himself with his hands but he couldn't: his fingers shook like the Earth during a tremor. Gazing down from the ethereal light towards his surroundings, Ash noticed that he was back in his room, tucked in bed and stripped to just a pair of joggers. Slowly but surely, he started to hear the world again.

"Ash!" A voice broke him clear out of his thoughts and caused him to gaze towards the voice. Before him stood May, dressed in a pair of yellow pyjamas with her hair let loose. Ash breath caught in his throat: she was safe. And that meant that the rest of them were safe… "The others went down for breakfast a few minutes ago, but I decided th-"She didn't finish her sentence because Ash dragged her to the bed and crushed his lips to her own.

He positioned his hands on either side of his face and kissed her with everything that he had. At first, he felt no movement from May's end, but slowly he felt her own lips move against his. As they continued their lip lock, Ash noted that May's lips were very soft, but firm and held up against the assault of his own lips. Suddenly, memories of his nightmare surfaced and he started to push harder and act more savage. Licking her bottom lip, he asked for entry to her mouth, which May agreed to. When he entered her mouth with his tongue, he felt her shiver in his arms, which were now positioned around her waist while hers were around his neck. Ash warm tongue darted and coiled around May's own, the latter being far more submissive than its companions. After a while, the two teens pulled away for air, eyes locked and full of love and lust.

"Mine." Ash muttered, colliding his forehead lightly to May's own, his possessive nature taking a hold once more.

"Yours." She said back, her smile so wide that it threatened to break her cheeks.

"I'm am never going to let anything happen to you girls."

"And we will hold you to that promise." She dove back in for another kiss, to which he happily obliged. After pulling away, he lay his head down onto her breasts, as she lay hers on his head, the smile never leaving her face. Warm breaths hit her skin and made her body hotter but she didn't mind. To be honest, she though that something might happen, but was kind of split between being happy or sad that nothing occurred: happy due to the fact that they didn't want to rush anything or do something behind the others backs but sad that their bond could grow and adapt more. A few moments later, Ash pulled back and smiled at his girlfriend with the same amount of vigour.

"You said that the others were at breakfast right?" She nodded. "So then why are you still in your PJ's?" A blush spread across Mays face after the question was asked.

"I, um, we all came to see how you were doing after last night, and the others left to get breakfast but I stayed to look after you for a bit." She said, placing her hands onto Ash's bare chest.

"Last night?"

"Yea, you passed out outside. Iris found you after she got bored of our girl talk. We took you to see Rose and Joyce but they said that you had simply fainted from exhaustion so we carried you on a stretcher to your room." Ash cringed slightly when she said 'fainted from exhaustion' because he knew exactly what had happened: the other Aura user had infiltrated his mind and made him hallucinate, and that was what made the burning and the strange colour pallet in his mark.

"Oh, sorry for worrying you." He said sheepishly, deciding to keep his trauma away from the girls for the time being.

"No problem. Now, I'm going to go get breakfast." She gave him one last peck on the cheek before embarking towards the door. "Oh, and Pikachu decided to sleep with Glaceon and Bunneary yesterday so don't worry about him." He heard her shout before the oak door close in on itself.

Lying back down on the bed, Ash let out a sigh. Sinking deeper into the mattress, he just stared off into the stars, concentrating on a single spot. He was thinking about the other Aura user.

'Some one that strong with heir aura must be high up in the hierarchy, probably an Aura Guardian at its highest level but they must have broken off from the rules and laws we have to follow.' Another thought crossed his mind that he had never even remembered. "He said that he had seen me play when I was younger… that means that they know me from a long time ago. It couldn't be… him. Could it." Shaking his head, he leapt up from the bed and onto the carpet.

Gazing over at the nearest chair, he saw that all his clothes from yesterday and a letter. Waltzing over, he noted that the letter was from Mr. Goodshow, regarding his recent incident yesterday. It stated that his battle had been moved to tomorrow for fear of anything similar occurring. Breathing out a sigh, Ash smiled as he realised that he had a day all to himself and the girls. Retracing he steps, Ash walked up to the bag of clothes that resided on his bed side table.

Looking at his options, he took out the red variant and slipped it on. As he finished up, a devilish thought crossed his mind.

"He threatened to hurt my mates, the women I love. So why I find him, I will kill him without mercy or regret." Taking great strides towards his door, he scanned the area, noting key auras such as Bonnie's and Clemont's and Alexa's down stairs, this alone managed to tug a smile from his lips, but found no threat in sight.

"This is war."

" _ **And it is a war you cannot win."**_

* * *

 **Hello everybody and welcome back! It feels so good to be writing and have my ideas back after such a long month of work and studying but now I am back! Also, I want to say thank you to anybody who reviewed or followed/favourit-ed in my absence, I will be including you at the beginning of next chapter because I wanted to get this out right away. The darker themes and the main story are starting to come into play now…. Finally, I want to apologise once more and I will be trying to put out more chapters now that my work load isn't so heavy. Yay! And yes, next chapter will hopefully be the chapter where the other girls are introduced and fleshed out more so yay again! Now, without further ado, here is the harem at its current form:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Anabel**

 **Angie**

 **Aria**

 **Skyla**

 **Elesa**

 **Korrina**

 **Clair**

 **Sabrina**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **-Jack**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello everybody and welcome back! What is this, chapter 12? Seriously, I want to thank you all so much for your continued support and what-not. Now then, let's just ignore the 2 month gap shall we? Hm… Well the real reason I was gone was literally just Christmas related, and the reason for January is that my school decided 'Hey you know those sudents that have to deal with our broken heating and other broken things? Let's gives them a fuck ton of homework!' So I've been doing other news, thank you all so much for 200 favourites, it really means the world to me, even if my friends don't think so. Also, another quick note. I recently picked up a story that an author was unable to continue by the name of 'Heart Fire'. The original was written by DragonGlass and was a Fairy Tail fanfic featuring NaLi, which I LOVE by the way, and I will be continuing that so any fans of Fairy Tail look forward to it! Also, yes this chapter is pretty short and that will be explained at the end.**

 **Quick thanks to everybody who followed, favourite-d and reviewed it really means a lot that you would do that.**

 **Now let's embark onto chapter 12!**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

The slow, hypnotic sound of footfall onto marble filled Ash's ears. For the past 5 minutes, he had been walking down the stairs of the Pokémon Centre, giving himself some more time to think. His thoughts had been swarmed with ideas of murder, revenge, punishment, judgement, ANYTHING that he could do to make this person submit.

However, whenever he thought about that man, he would always be drawn to the girls 'in the room' with him at the time; Misty, May, Angie and Aria. If this person was an Aura Guardian like him, he would be able to clearly tell Ash's feeling towards all his mates and vice-versa, but the assailant only decided to choose those four girls. So many spider-webs had been drawn inside his mind, linking people back to the attack on his subconscious but each time, the evidence placed against them would destroy anyway of them being the attacker.

Feeling his foot reach the designated floor, Ash let a sigh escape his throat and a hand run over his cap. After a short while, Ash moved his hand slowly down towards the metal encasing the door handle. The cool material bought him down a few notches and actually let him think about what was ahead of him, and not what was going on in the back of his head.

Pushing the door open, he quickly slipped through. A few spectators looked up to meet his eyes but they looked back down soon after. Another frown dawned on Ash's face as he noticed the lack of people in the centre, specifically his mates. However, a loud clicking sound and a barrage of lights bought his eyes over to the furthest corner of the room. A large group of people had congregated around one area. Reporters.

Taking a glance at the desk of the Centre, Ash noticed the absence of two very important people. 'Geez, the people payed to work here are over there? Must be important.' A sarcastic toned rolled off of his invisible tongue and his feet began to shift over the metal flooring. His trainers made soft pitter-patter sounds, contrasting to the hard sounds of shutters. After a few moments, voices began to invade his head with their questions.

"What do you think his return will do for this Tournament?"

Typical.

"How personally do you take his return?"

Asshole.

"Will there be any biased on your part, Cynthia, to bring forward-"

Wait what?

Cynthia was here? The gorgeous blonde women that he had met when he was just a mere boy in Sinnoh was here. To be honest, he had always thought of her as pretty and out of everybody he had met on his journey's, she was the one he always strived to beat in competition. Anybody who looked up at him now could see his shocked face and thoughtful expression and how his feet locked their position to the ground, but he didn't really care. She was back.

Then that feeling of guilt broke through his mind again. Yes, he had already talked to the girls about this but it was still eating away at his conscious. 'Are they really okay with it?' Before any more thinking could be done, a loud noise burst through the clicking cameras and flashing lights.

"Pika!"

Ash's mind woke up just before a small yellow rodent embedded itself into his chest, a trail of off-balance reporters in his wake. Looking down towards his companion, a smile spread through his features as he noticed the same small frost bite marks and cream colored clouds covering various parts of his electric body.

"Hey buddy, been busy?"

Tilting his head at his trainer's question, he didn't quite catch the meaning and couldn't understand the few chuckles that erupted from the now quiet air. In fact, that was the first time that either of them had noted it. It was silent now. Looking up, Ash noticed that the reporters had split and parted into two lines and in the middle of those two lines was the problem plaguing Ash's mind.

"Uh… Hi Cynthia." Moving his partner onto his shoulder, the trainer made his slow walk towards the blonde woman, both looking towards the floor, one out of embarrassment and the other out of… a large mix of feelings. Final landing in a stand-off like position, Cynthia began to speak.

"Hello Ash."

"How have you been?"

"I've been fine, a little hurt for the last five years, but fine."

"That's, uh, good to hear. You know, I've had this same conversation three times this week?"

"Well, you can't really assume that you were going to get off scot-free did you?"

"No… no I did not."

Every one watched them interact like Ash hadn't been gone for 5 years, but they could still feel the thick tension in the air that felt like water as their word struggled to swim through it.

Feeling bold, Ash stepped forward until he was face to face with her. Now he towered over her, and had to look down, but even from where he was standing a minute ago, he could see the glistening in her eyes.

"But I'm back now, and trust me, I've been punished enough for what I did. I even got a few new scars I think." Looking over to his group that were huddled on the sofa, they simply waved at him or scowled at him. Sighing, he turned back to the woman in front of him, who let out a soft chuckle before turning up to him and smiling with fresh tears running down her cheeks.

"Well, as the official Sinnoh Champion, let me-"Instead, she didn't finish and was instead enveloped in a warm hug by none other than the lost trainer in front of her.

"Stupid girl, even a Champion has needs." He sighed into her hair, feeling her now small, thin fingers grab onto his shirt and he embraced himself for another crying session. However, a light push into his chest, sent him to let go and look down at the girl.

"Actually, Mr. Ketchum," He sighed due to the formal name, "I am here on official business. I am here to escort you to the Champions room in the Stadium."

"Okay then, Ms. Stuck-Up, let's get going." He breezed past her, sending a look towards his mates. "I'll see you guys later, we'll go out then, okay?" He got several head nods back and Pikachu leapt off his shoulder to go join his own mates. "Alright, let's go Sinnoh Champion." Walking towards the doors, he turned around to see a very red Cynthia coming towards him, before grabbing his shirt in her hands and forcibly dragging him out the doors.

As soon as they left, whispers and other such things started spreading like wildfire. One group of girls just simply looked at each other and smiled.

"Looks like that's 8 then."

"Yea."

"Now we have a Champion on our side."

"But we already have some that is as strong as that in Ash, right?"

"Yes, but it's good to have an official on the 'team.' Are we even allowed to call it a team?"

"More importantly, is Ash even allowed outside? Is he okay from yesterday?"

"You worry WAY too much, he's fine."

"Yep, anyway, what are we going to do fort eh next few hours."

"Hours?"

"Yea, think about it. He's needed for official business and look how long it took him to explain the whole story to us,"

"You're right. Well, why don't we go out shopping for a bit or something?"

"Sure."

"Well then, let's go."

In their heads, they all said a phrase to their next mate,

'Good luck Cynthia.'

* * *

As they stepped out of the centre, Ash's world was literally spun around as he had his back against the wall of the Pokemon Centre in a matter of seconds. Glancing down scared at the woman in front of him, he saw many things in her eyes.

Anger.

Sadness.

Happiness.

Fury.

Lust?

Before he could even comprehend anything, he felt her lips against his. 'Oh, now I understand.' The small touch of skin slowly escalated into tongue rolling minutes of joy, moans of pleasure erupting from the pair. Breaking for air, the red faced duo stared long and hard at each other.

"Wow."

"What?"

"Just… aren't you like 8 years older than me?"

"Ash!"

"Okay, okay, I jest. Seriously though, wow." They looked at each other with nothing but care and love in their eyes now.

"So then, Lover Boy, tell me how you got this. I got the gist from the others but I want to hear the story from your mouth." Cynthia said, rolling her fingers over his stained skin.

"So, you believe in kissing and THEN telling. Okay then. Well, it all started when I got struck by lightning."

* * *

 **I am so sorry that you get this after two months of waiting, I really am but I'm, getting kind of dry on ideas for this story. Don't worry I'm not abandoning it, but these breaks are going to become more common, and in the mean time I will be writing other stories that I am more invested in. Like previously stated, I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY OR GOING ON A HIATUS! Just the chapters will be farther apart. I also want to take this time to ask, do you prefer shorter chapters that may allow me to update faster, or longer one that will update slower. Your opinions. Final thing, I want some of your ideas for this story as mine, as previously mentioned, are kind of falling flat. Here are some notes:**

 **I already have someone that will be Ash's father**

 **The harem will have one more girl, because of a plot point that one of you guys pointed out to me so you can vote on that again.**

 **Anything else is up to you.**

 **If I like your ideas I will but it in my story. PM me or put in the reviews, I do not mind in the slightest, but if you have anything please tell me. Anyway, that is al for now. Once again sorry for this delay and any future delays, writers block doesn't really seem that bad until you have something like this and you just can't think. Thank you all for reading and I will see you all very soon.**

 **Farewell, Jack.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everybody and welcome back to another chapter of Life Is Only! Wow, been a while since I last wrote that…**

 **First thing, it was my birthday! Yay for being one year older!**

 **Anyhow, there have been a few reasons why I have not been writing and one of them concerns, once again, the people in the harem. Yep, again. Seriously, this is the, what, 4** **th** **time? I was looking at the list thinking, 'I can't write a good relationship out of Ash with this specific character, I just can't.' Now, there were several reasons for this as well, such as most of them being from parts of the anime that I didn't watch but the biggest reason is that they do not have a personal connection with old Ashy-Boy. They had maybe, 2 or 3 episodes with him without any kind of interest or anything that I can build a relationship off and to be honest, the whole idea of 'Ash helped this girl once and then she became madly in love with him when he never saw her again.' With some characters, such as Aria or Angie, it is easier to get around like I have already done (I said that Ash came back to see Angie when he was travelling and the Kalos group saw Aria a lot more than they do in the current show.) And for me, that is easier to write but with characters like Elesa or Sabrina, I have no damn clue how to write that so I decided that I am switching some characters around. I am so, so sorry if you enjoy the pairings that I am going to be taking out but just know that this story will be better because of it.**

 **Okay then, let's have a look at said changes:**

 **Korina is staying. Reason? She had a whole damn arc with him… And they have a lot in common, I mean a hell of a lot in common. They are like the perfect couple! If the other couples didn't exist. Also I like Korrina, she's cool and funny, she stays.**

 **Elesa is getting replaced by Miette. Reason? Miette has a cannon crush on Ash where as Elesa, for the few episodes I saw with her in, she didn't really do much. At all. Also, having Miette around while also having Serena makes for some good scenes to write so that is the first one.**

 **Skyla is getting removed. Reason? Never really liked her much and she seems so hard to write for. If you want Skyla, search her up on Google Images… In fact, don't do that. Ever. However... there is still a spot so... yay? Sorry for doing this again. Really.**

 **Clair is getting removed. Reason? Never watched Johto all the way through so I have no idea what she is like. Also, she just seems a little difficult to write for.**

 **Sabrina is getting removed. Reason? Never liked her really or watched her episodes in Kanto, watched a few but even then I didn't like her. It would be kind of hard to write for someone that I do not like, huh.**

 **Finally, Annabel is getting removed. Reason? Yes, she does have a canon crush on Ash but compared to the others who do, she is just kind of lost in the background, I mean how do you compete with childhood friends and saving a girl's life? Also, never was the biggest fan.**

 **So, now that I have crushed some dreams and some hearts (I am so fucking sorry) time to move on to some questions.**

 **Animaman? Ok. Anyway, they have already forgiven each other… haven't they? Sorry, I haven't read the story in so damn long. Also, rivals will get justice… kind of. As with Brock, I had my little joke with him earlier, but now he is a dedicated lover! To like one girl. Going back to your previous post as well, yep, he will, but he just hasn't used them yet and when I started writing, Ash-Greninja didn't exist. I'll fit it in somewhere.**

 **Guest. Yep. Kids… Just don't hold out for them in like 10 chapters though… It takes time to make babies.**

 **Guest again. They already have…**

 **Valdor. I like it. Maybe I'll include it, but it feels sort of out of place when you find out who the father is.**

 **Once again, thank you for reading this story and this SUPER long authors notes, just needed to get that off my chest. Sorry again if a ship you like was cut but this will make it a better story, trust me. Thank you for reviewing or following or favouriting, we have reached 300 follows and 200 reviews now… That's kind of scary to be honest. Anyway, I just hope that you guys enjoy reading.**

 **And now, for the moment that you have been waiting for… that most of you have been waiting for…. That at least ONE of you have been waiting for, time to start chapter 13!**

 **P.S: 13's my lucky number. No context on the story just thought I'd share that fact.**

Speech- "Go Pikachu!"

Thoughts- 'Go Pikachu!'

Pokémon Moves- **Thunderbolt**

Aura Speech- _**'Go Pikachu'.**_

Past Tense- _Go Pikachu!_

* * *

"And that's what's happened up to this point." Ash finished with a sigh, closing his eyes at the memories. Looking down towards his left arm, a small chuckle escaped his throat as he witnessed Cynthia gazing at him with pleading eyes, the large grey pools begging for more. Throughout his long tale, Cynthia had laughed, she had cried, she had hit him, she had been EVERYTHING! Quite similar to Angie and Aria actually… He had left out what had happened outside the Pokémon Centre last night for obvious reasons.

Feeling the grip on his arm getting stronger, Ash once again looked at the blonde bombshell.

"So, what happens after this?" Cynthia was looking at the floor but Ash could see her face tinted red.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… with us, me and you." Now her face was completely turned away, instead intent on looking at a passing group of travellers. Releasing Cynthia from his arm, Ash strode round to stand in front of her, his height now very apparent. Holding the woman's face in his hand, he gentle turned her to look at him.

"Well… what do you want to happen?" He asked, a grin plastered onto his face.

"I… I want to…" Cynthia began to mumble, shifting her eyes away from Ash's chocolate stare.

"Sorry what was that Cynthia?" The smile never left Ash's face as he saw Cynthia shift and shuffle around.

"I want to be with you and the girls." Cynthia finally let out, the look of shame written all over her face. With a sigh, Ash bought the shorter girl into a hug, resting his head on her own.

"Of course you can, I have feelings for you just as much as I do for them." Ash admitted quietly so only she could be heard. Below him, he felt shuffling, before Cynthia wound herself around his torso, before gently pushing him against a nearby wall. And there they stayed for a few minutes, in genuine understanding and love. After a few minutes, Ash slowly untangled himself from the girl, chuckling when she looked up at him like a lost puppy before taking her hand in his own and setting off towards their destination once more.

"So… you still have not told me where we're going…" Ash ask with a smirk as he playful swung their conjoined arms. A similar smile soon started to spread on Cynthia's face as well.

"We are going to see the rest of the Champions here at the competition." She said, giggling when she saw Ash's eyes light up, "They said that they want to see you."

"Is this the important business that you pulled me away for?" Ash teased.

"Maybe." The blonde shot back. Both let out a small laugh before continuing onto the Champions meeting place.

* * *

Back at the Pokémon Centre, the girls were getting ready to head out after collecting their Pokémon from their rooms, when another group ran up to join them.

"Where is he?!" A little blonde girl ran up to the girls, who all turned to each other with slight embarrassment in their eyes.

"Ash just left with Cynthia to do some important League stuff…" Serena finally let out, wincing slightly at the hurt expression on the 13's face.

"Oh…" Her blue eyes turned to the ground as disappointment was painted on her face.

"But we're going out shopping now, maybe he'll met us while we're out." Dawn replied, giving the small girl a sliver of hope. That sentence revitalised the happiness in the girls face as she began to nod her head up and down.

"Bonnie!" Clemont called out, causing everyone to look over to where he and Alexa were coming from. When Ash had come down, the 3 of them had been getting breakfast. "S-Slow down next time." He cried out, bending over as he panted. Meanwhile, Alexa just stood there, completely fine, chuckling at his behaviour.

"So Ash left with Cynthia then? She mused, more to herself than anyone else. Her cheeks slightly tinted red at the thought of the first, a habit that she wasn't used to. When Alexa met Ash, she was 18 and just thought that it was a little phase or something, that what she was experiencing was just a figment of her imagination due to his battling or his bravery or something. However, as she started to meet up with Ash more and more in Kalos, that little phase turned into a little crush. Her, an 18 year old girl with a crush on a 13 year old! She felt kind of ashamed at herself to be honest. However, after he disappeared, she was devastated. So, for the next 5 years, she did a small side story with her journalism relating to the disappearance of Ash Ketchum. She had talked to his mom, his friends, his rivals, and gym-leader: in fact, this is where she became most acquainted with the group of girl Ash was now dating. And then, during those trips, that her little crush developed into fascination and admiration for this boy and so, her crush disappeared. Looking back at the girls, she saw them staring at her so she just waved them off.

"Well, come on then, let's go shopping!" Dawn announced, practically running out of the Pokémon Centre, followed by the others, all silently hoping that Ash would be there to meet them.

* * *

When Ash and Cynthia finally made it to the meeting point, which was in-fact just the Champion's Box at the tournament, the boy began to feel quite nervous. This was the first time that he would be speaking to some of his heroes in 5 years! Of course, new people such as Hilda had stepped up to become Unova Champion, but Cynthia and Lance and Steven? He had already made an impression on Cynthia but he couldn't kiss his way into their good books so he was hoping that he would make a good… 'First' impression? Letting out a sigh, he felt Cynthia's hold on his arm tighten a bit. Glancing down at the Sinnoh Champion, he let a small chuckle when he saw the confused look on her face.

"Are you going to tell them about your… thing?" Cynthia asked, referring to his new duties as an Aura Guardian.

"Yea, I think I am. Why?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to know." Ash couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was bothering her, but just as he was about to test her aura, the door to the Champion's Box abruptly opened, revealing the shapes of 3 figures.

The first was the Unova Champion, Hilda, who was sitting in one of the seats off to right of the box, lounging around and still not noticing the open door. The next was the Hoenn Champion, Steven, who was leaning against a table near the middle of the room. And finally, there was the Champion of Johto, Lance, facing away from everyone, standing at the front of the box. Nothing happened for a moment before Cynthia coughed, alerting everyone to their presence. Soon, she was being hugged by an overly excited Unova native.

"Cynthia, you're back! Thank Arceus because these two are so damn boring, going on about prophecies and traditions and what-not!" She cried out in fake agony before her eyes met Ash's. "So this is the famous Ash Ketchum?"

"F-Famous? No, not in the slightest." Ash retorted, waving his left hand to try and show that he wasn't anybody important.

"Of course you are! You're responsible for the saving of so many of the Legendary Pokemon, you've defeated so many different evil teams and you've entered every single League!" Hilda shouted at Ash, earning a small, nervous chuckle from the rest of the crew.

"Thanks?" He chuckled, glancing at the other two in the room. "Been telling tales about me have you?"

"Oh, well, tales like these need to be told." Steven said walking up to Ash, embracing the boy in a hug. "It's good to see you again Ash."

"You too Steven." Ash said, patting the silver haired Champion on the back as he exited the hug. "How have you been in Hoenn?"

"It's been good, still helping out with the family business but, hey, it's better than nothing." The tow laughed a bit, before Steven excused himself, standing over by Hilda. Turning his attention to the only remaining Champion, he waltzed over to Lance, touching him on the shoulder. Attracting his attention, he was met with the beaming smile of the Kanto Champion.

"Ash Ketchum." He said, standing up to hug the teen.

"Lance." Ash said back, smiling as he hugged the man.

"How you been? You didn't even send as much as a post card for 5 years: to be honest I'm a little upset." The red haired man spoke with fake hurt, earning him a laugh.

"Well, it's kind of hard to send a postcard when you live on Mt. Silver." Turning back to Cynthia, he saw her talking to Hilda and Steven was listening to them, entering their conversation when needed. "So Lance, how have you been?"

"Good, Ash, very good. Got myself a few new Pokémon, got quite a nice lass to agree to be my wife and I still hold my title in Johto, so life's gone good so far." Lance spoke, a nice smile on his face as he unloaded his memories. "Anyway, what about you?"

"Me? Well, I've been out of human contact for 5 years, on top of a cold mountain, and when I got back, one of the first things that I had to do was beat up one of my old 'friends' but overall: pretty good." Ash said, smirking all the way through.

"Good to hear that you're doing well Ash. Your mom must be proud." Ash's face drew blank. "Of your battling, you've really grown a lot." He smiled, putting his hand on Ash's shoulder. "Now, if you don't mind, I think that you owe Steven and me an explanation of why you ran off. Oh yea, and tell it to Hilda while she's here ("Hey! Jerk!"). I assume that you already talked to blondie, due to how your arms were linked when we walked in." A blush covered both of their faces: they hadn't even realised that they were still doing it. "So, I'm right, huh?"

"Yea… but I do owe you guys an explanation." Ash sighed, walking over to one of the chairs and setting himself down onto, gesturing for the others to sit down. As they sat down, he noticed Cynthia turn towards the door.

"I've already heard it so I'm going to meet up with the girls, okay Ash?" She said, locking eyes with him.

"Hm? Oh yea, sure. I'll meet up with you when I get done with this, alright?"

"Yep, seeya!" She called, walking out the door. When she had left, all eyes turned to him with a smirk.

"What?"

"Ash Ketchum, you sly devil." Steven called out, going against his normally calm nature.

"Shut it." Ash said back with mock irritation. "I'll explain that. Now, onto the story." And with that, the teen prepared himself to tell the same story for the 4th time.

* * *

Meanwhile, the group of girls were busy walking through a shopping centre. Clemont had gone off to meet with some other gym leaders for training and left Bonnie with the girls.

"Oh, look at this one." Dawn called out. Currently, May, Dawn, Serena and Aria were looking at capsules for their Pokeballs, busy trying to make their performances better while the others just sat outside the shop, chatting about stuff. After a while, the others came out.

"So, where we going next?" Iris asked, clearly bored with their predicament. Thinking for a second, May responded.

"Well, we could get some swim suits." Everyone looked at her for a bit. "What? We should all go to the beach."

"Actually yeah, we've been here for a while and have yet to go to the beach…" Misty pondered, kicking her heels back and forth.

"But that takes more effort!" Iris exclaimed, falling over on the bench that she was sitting on. Giggling, Bonnie tapped her shoulder.

"Come on, Iris! The beach is going to be really fun and it'd be a shame for you to miss out." The blond said, pouting at little.

"Pikapi!" A high pitched voice called out and everyone turned back to see Pikachu with a layer of frost and cloudy froth covering his face while Dedenne sat on his head. Smirking, May and Dawn turned back to see their Glaceon and Bunneary shift around nervously. Giggling, Iris picked herself up.

"Fine, but only for an hour, MAX!" As the group were beginning to head off, watching their Pokémon run off, they heard a voice call out to them. Turning around, they could see the approaching figure of Cynthia in the distance.

"Hello everyone." She said as she joined.

"Hey, Cynthia. You done with your League thing?" Dawn asked, tilting her head.

"Yep, but unfortunately Ash isn't." This earned a sigh from the group. "Sorry for pulling him away like that."

"Its fine, how long is he going to be do you think?" Angie asked, picking at some thread on her jumper.

"An hour at most."

"Hey Cynthia, are you free tomorrow?" Serena asked, getting a confused tone out of the woman.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, we're going to the beach so we thought that you might want to come along, we were just going to go buy some swim suits." Aria asked, following with what Serena was asking.

"Yea you should, especially after that stunt this morning." Misty smirked at the way Cynthia reacted to her comment, her face turning red and her fingers linking together.

"W-What do you mean?" Cynthia stuttered.

"It doesn't matter, just know that we all know… And we're okay with it." May cut Misty off, saving the Champion off from any more teasing.

"Thank you." Cynthia quietly said back, while a confused Bonnie stood in the middle.

"Wait… what happened?"

"Doesn't matter, now let's go buy some swim suits!" Dawn exclaimed, earning another groan out of Iris.

"This is going to be way longer than an hour."

* * *

Breathing in the warm air, Ash sighed as he exited the stadium, now filled with new hope thanks to the Champions kind words. After telling them his tale and about his meeting with Arceus, Lance and Steven had both comforted the boy, with Lance making a comment about him being jealous of Ash's certain situation, making the raven haired trainer smile. After a while, the two of them along with Hilda, who had stopped crying, had given him some advice, some which helped and some… which didn't.

Shuddering at the thought, Ash continued to walk towards the shopping centre, aiming on finding the girls. However, as he was walking, he felt someone watching him, following him. And all those thoughts lead to one person. Luckily for him, he was walking down a relatively empty route.

Switching to is Aura Vision, he eyes became tinted with blue as he scanned his surroundings… nothing again. Damn, this guy was so infuriating! And even worse, he could be Ash's father… His thoughts were interrupted when he felt something move behind him. Turning himself around, Ash found himself face to face with nothing. Shaking his head, he started to turn back but what stood before him?

The man in the mask.

He was clapping, and looked exactly as he did in Ash's dream: a black mask embellished with jewels, his shirt and coat were a similar black with black cargo pants and black army boots and gloves. Somehow, Ash knew that he was smiling under that mask.

" **Very good, Ashy-boy, very good. Great reflexes."** Clenching his fist, Ash tried to hold back and not separate this guy's head from his neck and instead, get some answers… before the decapitation.

"So you're done playing hide and seek?" Ash asked, every word releasing venom at the aggressor.

" **Hide-and-seek? Is that what you call it? Personally, I call it Poor Service but hey, you chose them, not me."**

Aura flaring, Ash shouted aggression at the man.

"SH **UT UP! WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"** Red flickered all over the scene, threatening to even light the skies ablaze.

" **If you want that, then you have to catch me,"** Turning around, a flash of red came forth before returning. Now, the man was at the end of the road, a thin streak of neon following him. **"Come-on kiddo, let's run, you know…"** And then he said the words that Ash was scared to hear.

" **Father and Son bonding."**

As the words left his mouth, Ash burst forward, fury consuming his being, his aura picking his speeds up high and setting his mark alight.

" **I'LL KILL YOU!"**

* * *

 **Hello again and thank you for reading! Now, in this chapter you got some foreshadowing to next chapter and you got the first proper meeting of Ash and his father who… actual is his father… Huh. I want to, once again thank everyone who has read this and I will be seeing you next time. Get ready for the beach folks! Oh and Justice… of course. Thank you and goodbye!**

 **-Jack**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello everyone! Welcome back to another chapter! Why another one so soon, you may ask? I don't really know why but hey, here's to another chapter.**

 **Regarding what happened last chapter, you guys actually took it better than I thought you would and I thank you for that. But I don't think I was clear enough: if you have someone with a legitimate reason why they would like Ash or a story that I can shift around to make easier, such as a rival, then I will replace the previous members. Another thing, a few people said 'Just make up their personalities and stuff' but I can't do that and, call me stupid, but I feel like I'm disrespecting the original people who made these characters if I was to change their personality without a MASSIVE reason such as with Ash. I don't know, maybe its just me but, hey. One final thing, its still a harem if you take away 4 girls from an original 14... Just saying. Wanted to get that off my chest but I once again want to thank you so here goes with chapter 14!**

* * *

The loud crackle of lightening filled the air, the once warm and sunny exterior replaced by a thick atmosphere of hatred. Red bolts of aura shot from both sides of the field, one for defence and one for offence. Inside the swirling void of red and black were two figures, one was Ash Ketchum and one was his father.

With a cackle, the older one of the two started talking. **"You know,"** He said coldly as he sidestepped a slice from Ash's Aura Claws, **"You really do have the temper of your mother."**

" **SHUT UP!"** Ash screamed, lashing out again, letting his Aura destroy parts of the road and scrape parts of the nearby buildings. Another chuckle escaped from his father's throat.

" **And what's best is that that was one of the reasons why I chose her to become part of my group."**

" **WHY YOU FORCED HER!"** The roar that erupted from Ash would falter a Charizard and caused his father to stop moving.

" **Is that what she told you?"** That sentence had Ash stop moving as well.

" **W-What?"**

" **She never did tell you what really happened, did she?"** A flash of red. **"How she WILLINGLY became part of my group."** Ash could feel his voice in his ear but couldn't bring himself to move.

" **What are yo** utalking about?"The raven haired trainer asked, his voice losing its edge.

" **When I first came into her town, I had seen her and thought that she was one of the most beautiful women that I had ever seen. I had straight up asked her to join me but she refused, saying that she had a husband already. I complied but we went out for a simple diner and had gone to a bar but nothing happened. I stayed in the town for a next few days with the rest of my… How do you say it? Ah yes, my girls."** The way he was talking about it made it seem like a crappy romance novel but Ash was hooked. Had his mother lied to him? **"And then, on my last day in the town, she had come running up to me, screaming and crying that Axcel had cheated on her with his life-long friend. How sad, right? So, I comforted her and once again, asked her to join me. This time, she said yes, willingly."** Ash's entire perception of reality seemed to crash around him. Axcel had cheated on his mom? He had actually done that? **"And what's worse, apparently Axcel had said that it was Delia's fault. Imagine, your mother being told that it had been her fault that her husband had FUCKED another woman. The pain, the agony-"**

"The betrayal." Ash spoke with a low voice, as he felt his father put his hands on his shoulders and massage them.

" **Yes, the utter betrayal."**

"B-But then, what happened to you beating and hurting the girls you got with? And how you killed them all?"Ash asked, still trying to get over that he might had a half-brother or half-sister.

" **The girls hadn't had any Pokémon with them at the time, so when I was off training, they didn't have any protection and thus were easy targets for wild Pokémon. They got all scuffed up and beaten but I never let it worsen past a few cuts or bruises. And every time, they would tell me that they didn't need Pokémon and that they were strong! Ha, I loved everything about every single one of them."** Ash's father seemed to stop for a second, seemingly loosing himself in the memories. **"However, after the 5** **th** **time, I had them catch Pokémon. In-fact, that's where your mother met Mr. Mime."** Ash's eyes widened a small amount as this new information was revealed to him.

" **As for what happened with them being murdered, it turns out that my Aura was so dangerous that it slowly killed the cells in those around me."** Ash spun around, horror evident in his face which earned a small laugh from his father. **"Don't worry kiddo, it had to do with another condition I had, you don't have it. But that meant that the woman I got with couldn't get pregnant, as their fertility would usually be the first thing to go. Then their cellular structure would break down and they would die after prolonged exposure. After I lost the first girl, I ran all around Kanto, trying to save them but every time I was too late… But then I got to Pallet Town, where your mother wanted to spend the rest of her life. And as I was running to your house, I looked through the window to see you in her arms, only a few days old. As it turns out, Delia had been fertile enough to produce children and the last time that we… you know about the birds and the bees right?"** A small chuckle left Ash's throat. **"Okay, that's good. But I wasn't careful because I had told every single one of them what my Aura would do to them and their fertility but they all accepted it, even if they couldn't have children."** A small laugh left his father's mouth **. "I wish that I had saved them. I didn't want to go near you or your mother encase I killed you too. I'm so sorry that I have been out of your life for so long."** Reaching out, he patted Ash's raven hair.

" **But then, about 4 years after you were born Delia found out that Axcel had re-married his childhood sweetheart and had got her pregnant."** His father commented, sadness actually evident in his voice.

"So, what happens now?"Ash asked slowly, trying to take in all this new stuff. Had his mother been lying to him? No… she must have just forgotten. Right?

" **What happens now is that I leave, I can't have you being all hung up on the past. I was gone for 18 years, can't expect you to forgive me. Just promise me something: never do what I did. Never abandon your girls, never. You got that kiddo**?" A small nod **. "Good. Now, see-ya later, I guess."** And with that, his father left in a flash of red lightening.

A few minutes passed before Ash actually did anything. And the first thing that he did was collapse to the floor. There were so many things that his father couldn't answer for, such as what he had done to his mind a few days earlier or a number of things that his mom had told him about his father but most things checked out… Had Axcel really cheated on his mom? Did he really have a half-brother or sister out there somewhere? Did his father only kill those girls by accident? Was he telling the truth? Now, he had two conflicting stories in his head: one from his mother who had serious problems explaining the issue, meaning that she had forgotten some parts and she had admitted that to him where-as the other is from his father and it checks off everything that his mother had told he but he could easily be lying.

Picking himself off the floor, he promised to himself that he would love his girls with his entire being. Walking to the shopping centre, the whole scenario that he had witnessed previously swarmed his thoughts.

Ash's mind was broken.

* * *

Walking out of the shop skipped 9 girls, all with multiple bags of swimming gear in their hands.

"So then, Iris? How 'terrible' was that then?" Misty teased the younger girl, enjoying the scowl that she got in return.

"Okay! It wasn't that bad…" Iris muttered, turning away from the giggling girls.

"Sure it wasn't that bad, we all got like 3 different swim suits!" Dawn exclaimed, evidently happy with her purchase.

"And we only took," May said happily, looking at the large clock on the wall, before turning back sheepishly, "2 hours."

The whole lot of them began talking between themselves as they reached a bench, deciding to wait for Ash there. Bonnie began to look through her bag to see… 5 different types of Pokémon based swimsuits. Despite her growing age this was one thing that she never grew out of. The rest just put their bags on the ground.

"So, girls?" All eyes turned to Alexa, who was grinning like she had won the lottery. "I'm guessing that you chose at least one of your swimsuits for Ash's sake?" And she couldn't be happier with the reactions that she got back: Misty immediately began cursing under her breath, May simply turned away while whistling a small tune, Dawn just turned red and froze, Iris decided to take the Misty approach and start quietly swearing while her eyes met the floor, Serena just carried on like nothing even happened, Aria much the same, while Angie had white hot fire in her eyes and Cynthia was quietly blushing. Perfection.

"Yeah! I got this Pikachu one that he will totally LOVE!" Bonnie exclaimed, jumping up in front of Alexa's face while everyone else just smirked at her innocence. However, they were interrupted by a voice.

"Girls, hey!" All eyes turned to see the approaching forms Carrie and Selina with a new girl, while Tino, Quincy, Shadow and 3 new boys. Currently, the group knew who all of them were. The first was a girl by the name of Ally. She had arrived shortly after Shadow and it was revealed that she knew Carrie already. She has pink hair and a pair of bright blue eyes, while she wore a short sleeved pink shirt and a short pink shirt with white converse like shoes. She had a female Pikachu sitting on a messenger bag hanging from her shoulder.

The next was a boy by the name of Jonny. He had come to the Pokémon Centre a few days later to participate in the tournament and the small group had hit it off with him. He was 19, with forest green eyes and black hair. He was wearing a blue, long sleeved jumper with navy blue jeans, ending in a pair of black trainers. Next to him stood a Bellosom.

Next to Quincy was a boy called Abel. He was only 14 but had managed to bag himself a place in the Tournament. Apparently, he had been invited but was hesitant on going but after Ash unveiled himself on the news, he flew right over. He was on the search for Dialga and hearing about Ash's adventures in Sinnoh made him come over and want to ask him all these things about the Pokemon. Infact, when he got here, one of the first things he did was talk to Dawn and Brock, who had travelled with him. After that, he had met up with this smaller crew and had been hanging out with them. He's around 5'4, has blue eyes like the deepest ocean and brown middle length hair. He was wearing camo-styled combat shorts with a Blue T-Shirt with lightning bolts on the back and front. He also had blue trainers and around his neck sat a Mega Stone. On his shoulder sat a Minun.

And finally there was Yoshii. Yoshii was a boy who just showed up one day. Once he got here, he registered for the tournament and then just sat there with his Greninja. Eventually, Quincy coaxed him over to their little group and even though he didn't talk much, he always corrected Quincy on little tings which kind of pissed him off. He was wearing a hood like he usually did along with a pair of sunglasses so nobody knew what he looked like. He was wearing a white hoodie with black combat pants and black boots.

The two groups have had quite a good amount of time to get to know each other, after-all of Ash's disappearing or fainting, forming quite an unlikely friendship.

"Hi guys, what's up?" Iris asked as they walked over, happy that there was something going on.

"Nothing much, we were just out getting some supplies for the tournament." Quincy answered, sitting on a bench opposite the group, purposely not looking at Alexa who just simply smiled.

"Yep, and you'd never imagine how much Pokémon food or potions or anything costs." Selina commented, taking a seat beside Quincy. Then followed Tino who just kind of wordlessly sat down.

"Actually, we all travelled with Ash, a guy who uses just his will power to push his Pokémon through stuff, as well as a cook so we really don't know." Serena commented, making everyone chuckle.

"So what's in the bags?" Carrie asked, walking over to Dawn.

"These? Oh we're going to the beach later today so we had to buy some swimming stuff." She casually responded as Carrie went through her bag.

"Why don't you guys join us?" Angie asked, drawing all their attention onto her. "What?"

"Actually that's a pretty good idea." Jonny muttered.

"Yea, we haven't been to the beach yet." Abel commented from his spot next to Bonnie.

"Can't, I going to do some training, but the rest of you can go." Yoshii mumbled. At this point they knew that he would most likely bail and then meet them later so it wasn't that surprising.

"Okay then, we're going to the beach." Quincy smirked. Standing up, the group told them that they would meet each other at the beach because they needed to get there stuff. After they had left, the group of girls just sat around for a while, watching Pikachu mess around with Dedanne while Glaceon and Bunneary watched. About 10 minutes later, Aria spoke up.

"Hey, isn't that Ash?" Ahead of them was the boy that they were waiting for… 2 hours after his meeting was supposed to end. But before anyone could nag at him from afar, Bonnie had jumped from her spot and sprinted towards him.

"Ash!" She cried out, happy to finally see him in the flesh. Turning his eyes up, they say Ash smile as he held out his arms for the girl, picking her up into a hug as she approached.

"Hey Bonnie." They heard him mutter but when they saw his eyes, they knew something was bothering him. He had this expressionless look on his face, like he was thinking too hard about something and for Ash to think too hard about something, it must be serious.

"I missed you. Clemont missed you too." Bonnie muttered into Ash's collar, content with being carried to the rest of the girls.

"I know, I missed you guys too." Ash said back. When he finally reached the group, he gave them a smile and released Bonnie before Pikachu leapt up onto his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek. Then, he walked over to Alexa and gave her a hug. "Hey Alexa."

"Mr. Ash Ketchum." Alexa said in a fake reporters tone. "It's good to see you."

"You too. I read that column that you had on me." Alexa decided to scowl at Ash. "What? It was entertaining." After some short conversations and a few cheek kisses, Ash turned back to girls. "So we're going to the beach?"

"How did you-"Angie began before Ash pointed to his ears.

"Enhanced hearing. Plus, you girls like to talk really loud." He smirked at them but they didn't miss that look in his eyes. "Let me go grab my trunks." He mused out loud before placing Pikachu on Bonnie's head.

And then, in a flash of blue neon, he was gone, a faint outline of his body visible in the air. And then he was back about 30 seconds later, a small string bag on his back.

"Now let's go." He muttered as he began to walk away but not before Bonnie jumped on his back and screamed that he needed to give her a lift for leaving for 5 years, with Pikachu still sitting on her head.

Ash happily complied.

* * *

When they finally reached the beach, it was actually relatively empty. So, after finding a spot on the beach that was large enough for the group, the girls went off to the changing rooms while Ash just sped in there and back, dressed in a pair of simple black shorts and a muscle top.

Placing his bag down, he smiled at the scenery and at the scene of Pikachu running around with Glaceon and Bunneary, all of them jumping over each other and falling over. It really was quite cute. After a while, the other group, consisting of Quincy, Tino, Selina, Carrie, Shadow and a few other members that Ash didn't know came over. He then go a quick introduction to Ally, Jonny, and Abel, the latter immediately started asking questions about Ash's time in Sinnoh, which made him smile.

Then, about 10 minutes later, Ash was telling the group about how destructive Dialga was, at Abel's request of course, he heard May call him. Glancing up, Ash nearly lost all colour in his face.

Misty was wearing a cerulean blue two pieces with her hair pushed to the right, May was wearing a wearing a black and orange bikini with no bandanna, Dawn was wearing a black one-piece with no beanie, Iris was wearing a white bikini top with some denim shorts, Serena was wearing a red bikini with no hat, Angie was wearing a two piece green swimsuit, Aria was wearing a pink bikini matching her hair and finally was Cynthia with a dark grey bikini. All of their suits hugged their bodies in just the right places and made Ash feel like drooling.

"Wow, they're really pretty." Abel commented, his more innocent mind keeping Ash in-tact.

"Yeah they are." Ash muttered with a small smile. Standing up from the sand and grabbing his bag, he began to walk over to greet them when he noticed Bonnie off in the corner talking to someone. She herself was wearing a Pikachu swimming costume. 'Cute.'

"You all look amazing." Ash said when he got there. However, they didn't really seem to be listening. They seemed to be looking at him weird. Was there something on his face? Shaking his head, he held up his bag. "There are some people that I know will love to meet you again." This got them moving, as they all looked at his bag with wide eyes.

Grinning, Ash walked over to the middle of the area and opened the front of his bag, before swinging it up in an upward motion. About 40 Pokeballs came flying out before they all flew open at one, blinding the small spot in white light. After it had died down, there stood the forms off all of Ash's Pokémon. Almost immediately, they noticed the change in scenery and began to look around for their master. When they found him, almost all of them charged at him, sending Ash to the floor in fit of laughter. That's when the Pokemon registered that there were other people nearby. Craning their heads, they all took off in a sprint when they spotted the girls, nearly crushing them with happiness when they finally made it over… or they nearly crushed them with body mass.

The sounds of Pokémon and Trainers meeting each other again filled the air, as the other group watched on in astonishment at the strong collection of Pokémon Ash had. They had only seen Staraptor and Feraligatr in action, but they knew that the rest were just as powerful. When the introductions were over, the girls released their own Pokémon, flooding the beach with light for the second time.

And for the second time, as was knocked over a swarm of Pokémon. As he greeted the different Pokémon from each trainer he couldn't help but laugh and smile. As he continued, one thought lingered in his mind.

'Father.'

* * *

 **Okay then. That's a twist that I'd never thought I'd write... Or is it a twist? Is any of that even real? Or is it fake? Is Delia wrong? Is Ash's father lying? FIND OUT... Not next time but in a few chapters... I think. Anyway, once again thank you for reading and remember that if you have someone who you think I can write good for with a LEGIT reason for liking Ash then send it to me and I'll think about replacing one of the previous girls. Now I bid you GOODBYE! Oh yea and there will be more beach-time-fun next chapter but I thought that I'd leave the serious 'daddy-issues' thing in this chapter and all out FUN next chapter. Okay, now GOODBYE!**

 **P.S: Please tell me why Ash should get with the person, because just putting a name doesn't really help me. Thanks**

 **-Jack**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello everybody and welcome back to Life Is! Wow, chapter 15, huh? Funny, never thought I'd make it past 5.**

 **Anyway, I want to thank you for coming back to read and for suggesting new people. At the minute, people have suggested Leaf, Shauna, Bianca, Sabrina (Again but someone pointed something out to me that I didn't really notice before and I liked it) and surprisingly, Bonnie. I'll think on these people and send in more people if you have any reasons. Anyway, I want to thank you again but now lets start chapter 15!**

* * *

Ash sighed as he watched the scene in-front of him.

He was still at the beach, just watching as his Pokémon rejoiced and reunited with their friends Pokémon, many of them nuzzling against each other or happily dancing around each other. To be honest, Ash found it very cute.

Well, it was enough to distract his mind so he was thankful of that.

For the last 2 hours, his mind had just been swarming with thoughts and feelings, emotions that he never thought that he'd have; compassion and regret for his father and doubt towards his mother? Up until this point, he hated the bastard who had left his mother to fend for herself but after the evidence that he had provided, he couldn't fault him for staying away. And what about that baby born from the reunion of Delia's husband and his wife? He knew that they weren't related by blood, but he still thought about them as if they were a sibling. There were just too many questions.

"Ash?"

Looking up from his momentary slumber, he locked eyes with Iris who was looking quite cautiously at the teen. Smiling, he reached out to ruffle her purple hair, smirking even further when he saw her scrunch up her face.

"I'm fine Iris." Ash stated simply before he released the girl, who just beamed back before holding onto his hand as she started to drag him back to the social hub. Looking around as he was being lead like a small child, he took note of what everyone was doing; Misty had gone to the sea almost immediately, splashing around in the shallow waters with some of the groups water type Pokémon, May and Dawn were busy reuniting with some of Ash's Pokémon as well as meeting some of his new ones, Serena was busy working on putting some beds out with Aria and Cynthia and Angie was talking to the other group. As he watched them all go about with their deeds, he couldn't help but chuckle.

When the finally reached the others, Iris released him and turned on her heels to see his face.

"Are you sure that you're okay, Ash?" She asked, her tone laced with worry.

"Like I said, I'm completely fine Iris. But hey, thanks for worrying." He muttered slightly, staring at the Unova native in all her glory. Her dark skin and purple hair radiated against the burning sun and her shorts just hugged her curves so well. After a while, he found out he was staring.

"Oh… uh… sorry." He said with a nervous chuckle, turning away from the girl to run a hand through his hair. However, he didn't expect to get a small peck on the cheek.

"W-Well, it's g-good to know that you're o-okay. Now… let's have some fun with the others, yea?" Iris spoke with a stutter, drawing his attention to her once more.

"Yea." Looking over to the ocean, a confident smile crossed his features. "Race you."

A quick flash of blue shot past Iris before she could even agree, small sparks of blue hitting her skin. With a wide, open mouth, turned to see a smiling Ash sitting confidently just off shore, the water up to his knees.

"Hey! That's cheating!" She yelled at him, starting into a sprint to try and reach the boy who was laughing and pointing at her. However, he didn't really notice the figure sneaking up on him.

"Gotcha!" Suddenly, some attached themselves onto Ash's back, setting him of balance so much that he just fell back into the clear crystal ocean. When his skin hit the water, it felt cool and cleared his head but the laughing and giggling around him drew him out of the trance. Sitting up, he found the smiling figure of one Misty Waterflower resting between his shoulder blade and the chuckling figures of those around him.

"Something wrong, Ashy?" She said in a very false concerned tone with her tongue out so Ash just took the time to look at her. Her hair and skin was wet from the water and it was as if he could each individual droplet illuminating her flesh. As well as that, her two piece outlined her newer, developed body and once again, Ash found himself staring.

"No… nothing at all." He replied, normally at first before he turned back with a massive, sinister smirk on his face.

"A-Ash?" Misty asked cautiously but before she finish, she was high up in the air and falling towards the ocean. Ash had thrown her. "AHHH! SCREW YOU KETC-"She hit the water with a crash sending the now standing Ash into a spiral of laughter. Around him he heard the same chuckling as before. Twisting his head, he saw the figures of Iris, May and Dawn.

Like before, he found himself lost in their beauty but the sinister idea in his mind overpowered those thoughts in his mind. He could stare in a bit. Taking a step towards the trio, the three suddenly found themselves all in mid-air, suspended by the fast falling as they plummeted towards the ocean. Ash had thrown all of them.

"AHH!" Was the general consensus as the three came crashing down into the water as well. Ash waited a moment for their shocked, wet faces to come out of the water before he began laughing again, falling onto his knees in a fit.

"T-That wasn't funny…" Dawn muttered simply, although a smirk was slowly appearing on her features.

"Y-Yea, what gives?" May asked in a similar situation.

Behind him, Ash heard his aura ping. Twisting his body, he saw the approaching figure of Bonnie who just simply yelled.

"THROW ME!"

And he complied.

After a while, Ash pulled himself out of the water, his hair sticking to his head as he made his way over to the sun beds. With each step he took, the ground just shrank beneath him and the sun was scorching down onto his skin but to be honest, Ash wasn't paying attention to that. It was as if his mind was drifting in and out of consciousness, his aura pinging and going away. He didn't know what it was about and it was kind of pissing him off.

Finally reaching the beds, he took a seat by Serena legs, running a hand through his hair. Breaking open his eyes, he took another look around the beach; the girls were still playing in the ocean with Angie and the others deciding to join them, Quincy had gone over to Alexa and the two had been talking for a really long time actually… suspicious. The other members of the B-Team, being Tino, Shadow, Abel and Jonny were setting up what looked like a net-ball game. He was so entranced by what everyone else was doing that he almost didn't hear Serena.

"Ash!" Twisting his neck, he saw Serena's face very close to his, with a confused Aria and Cynthia watching him as well. "Are you okay… you seem sort of out it since you came back."

A smile broke out on Ash's face before he put his hand on her head, ruffling her hair which earned him a small pout from the honey-haired girl.

"I'm completely, absolutely fine. I mean, why wouldn't I be? I get to spend time at the beach, just relaxing and hanging out with my beautiful girlfriends so I'm not complaining one bit." That kind of statement made the three blush slightly which made him smile even more. And as he stared at them, he just got lost in his thoughts.

The three were so similar, in figure, in personality, in aspiration, in everything but they all had clear distinct differences. All his girls did. And not only were they all fucking gorgeous, they all had amazing personalities to match, making him even-

His aura pinged.

Throwing his hand up to guard his face, he gazed at his hand to see a sharp leaf now resting in his pal. Grinning, he looked back to see Sceptile and Greninja looking at him, both with smug expressions on their faces.

"Alright, alright. I'm game." He stretched his muscles, and stood up which confused the girls around him.

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" Aria asked, tilting her head. Ash didn't answer, instead he started to quickly put on his trainers, smiling the whole damn time. After he put them on, he them relieved himself of his muscle shirt. And the girls weren't disappointed. He had muscle, but it was lean and not too heavy and it looked really good on him…

However there were somethings that drew their attention.

"A-Ash… where did you get those?" Cynthia asked, cautiously pointing to several marks on his body. There were tens, maybe hundreds of scars across his body, all varying in size and location. Turning back to them, he finally answered.

"Let me show you." Pushing himself forward, he began to walk over to the two patient Pokémon. Now, a small crowd of Ash's and the other's Pokémon began to gather, already knowing what was going to happen either from personal experience or from tales told to them by Ash's Pokémon. Naturally, this drew over the rest of the group.

"What's going on?" Angie asked as she got to their group, drying off her hair.

"We don't know." Serena replied, moving over to let some of them sit down.

"It looks like a fight." May casually pointed out. Then they began to realise.

"Wait…"

"Is Ash…?"

"Going to fight?"

A sudden explosion of blue filled their vision as the sand beneath Ash began to turn to glass, crystal waves crashing into the earth below which then formed more crystal. Ash's Pokémon began to jump up and down in excitement and Greninja and Sceptile just glared in determination. In the centre of it all was Ash, his body coated in blue aura. Looking squarely at his Pokémon, he spoke.

" **All out?"**

They nodded in return.

" **Okay then."**

He took in a deep breath before launching himself at them with amazing speed. He went up to Sceptile first and the two began to throw punches, with the grass type using **Leaf Blade** as he fought. Every blow dealt was received by both parties and the two just held a pure look of determination on their faces. Ash jumped over Sceptile's head, only to be intercepted by a **Hydro Pump** from Greninja, which knocked him to he glassy ground. He was up again almost immediately, rushing at the water type with as much force as before, using his legs to kick the frog. Once again, it was blow for blow. Sceptile tried to sneak up on Ash but the teen just twisted backwards and kicked the grass type, who fought back. Now he was going toe-to-toe against two of his best Pokémon.

The crowd who hadn't seen this before looked on in awe; this was how Ash trained some of his stronger Pokémon as well as train himself!? This was absolutely insane!

However, Ash's eyes turned glassy.

* * *

Ash loved sparing but now something was creeping into his mind, infecting his thoughts with memories.

" _He… was a horrible and awful man. He use to hit and wound us if we defied him and he never let us have our freedom. And if we tried to run away, he said that he would kill our significant others, so we went along with him. At almost every small town, he would take another girl, threatening to do the same unless she followed him. He was also dangerous with his aura: a blood red it was, able to level cities he used to say."_

Why?

" ** _The girls hadn't had any Pokémon with them at the time, so when I was off training, they didn't have any_** _ **protection**_ ** _and thus were easy targets for wild Pokémon. They got all scuffed up and beaten but I never let it worsen past a few cuts or bruises. And every time, they would tell me that they didn't need Pokémon and that they were strong! Ha, I loved everything about every single one of them."_**

Who was lying to him?

" _H_ _e always tried to refuse a child. But once, just once, I got pregnant. I was so happy, I could have a family. But I soon learned that the other 14 didn't make it… your father had been too rough with them and had gotten them pregnant as well: so he killed them."_

Why did both of them sound like they were telling the truth?

" ** _But that meant that the woman I got with couldn't get pregnant, as their fertility would usually be the first thing to go. Then their cellular structure would break down and they would die after prolonged exposure. After I lost the first girl, I ran all around Kanto, trying to save them but every time I was too late…_**

And why did both of them sound like they were lying?

 _"Lucky for me, that was the time when he passed away, and I got to keep you and raise you and I am so happy that I did. You helped me with PTSD I received from the ordeal, you helped me through everything, and I would be lying if I wasn't scared every time you left on a journey. But I'm so happy that you are safe."_

WHAT IS GOING ON!?

 ** _"I wish that I had saved them. I didn't want to go near you or your mother encase I killed you too. I'm so sorry that I have been out of your life for so long."_**

WHY, GOD DAMMIT!?

Something stopped his fist and that bought Ash out of his trance. Staring at him, with wide eyes were Sceptile and Greninja, who both held his fist in their hands. Looking down, he could see how red his aura had become, the flares flickering to the ground. Pulling his hands back, he looked down in shame.

" **T-Thank you."** He said quietly and the two just nodded, leading other Pokémon away to let him cool down. He just stood there for a while, staring at the glassy sand.

He needed to know the truth.

He needed to know who was lying.

He need to know for his sake.

Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned around to see the familiar faces of his girls, all with worry written on them and Ash couldn't help but smile.

He needed to know so that he could keep them safe.

He need to know everything.

And he needed to know now.

* * *

 **And there we go. A 'fun' chapter... I just can't help myself, gotta add some drama in there somewhere! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and next time, Ash should be returning to the tournament and trying to learn some damn answers! And then he's taking the girls out on a date. Gotta be the good guy. Anyway, again, thank you for reading and send in suggestions if you want some one in, with reasons please. Now, goodbye!**

 **-Jack**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello everybody and welcome back to Life Is Only Black and White, chapter 16! AND I'M FINISHED WITH MY EXAMS! YES! Now I have to wait until I get my results and I'm at work experience for the next 2 weeks but I have so much more free time now! YES! MORE FANFICTION! Yes, I will hopefully be getting more chapters out for you instead of the one per month now that I actually have time. Hopefully.**

 **But now, let me just thank all of you that like this story or those that just come here to read it because it means so much to me that you actually like my stuff. We just reached 400 followers not too long ago and numbers don't mean that much to me but wow, this many people sort of like my work? Really? Wow... thank you guys so much.**

 **Anyway, lets stop with the soppy stuff ad get to the reviews.**

 **Jack905: Thanks.**

 **Guest: No Delia, we already covered this. I'd feel really uncomfortable writing that.**

 **Guest: Yea... Light isn't my thing.**

 **Guest (Again): Kind of.**

 **Dungeon Raider: Thanks and yea, I really don't like those; they are just too unbalanced to find fun in my opinion. I like an over-powered character but within reason and with some proper build up.**

 **Ruby097: Gee, thanks and don't worry, I hope that the climax is good enough for you.**

 **Dansama92: Thanks for your criticism, over the summer I'll go through and alter my other chapters when I have a lazy day. Also, thanks for the kind words.**

 **Yaw613: Sorry man, I had exams going on. But now it's here!**

 **Tatsumi08: Thanks, and don't worry, it'll be at the end.**

 **Guest: Yea, it has. Again. I feel like that idea is in another story that i read somewhere... But hey, it's an alright idea so I might take a look into it. And I'm sue they will so, with all of them being in the tournament and that. Well, most of them.**

 **MidnightRebellion98: Yep, the truth will be coming.**

 **Griffin87443: Thanks.**

 **One-Trick Man: A few others have been asking about her so I'll add her to the maybe pile. Thanks for suggestion.**

 **FanFic Meister: Maybe, maybe not. Maybe both, maybe one, maybe none.. WHO KNOWS?!**

 **Mystery Reader: Thanks for the compliments and fort the suggestions and reasoning. I'll add them to the maybe pile as well. Thanks again.**

 **Calebros: Was there a Satanic theme in the first chapter? Hm, didn't realise.**

 **ButterMan274: Thanks and it is here!**

 **NatureAce: Well, the quality is 'meh' in my opinion, but thanks.**

 **Animaman: Well, one of your theories is correct. As for Sun and Moon... I don't know. Maybe? I'm kind of interested in Lillie though, so maybe her but I really don't know. Also, ask away because Zoey is a pretty good pick and a unique character. A pole... Ah.. I... Um... Don't know how to do that.. I'M NEW DAMMIT! New-ish. And Leaf... I've got something sorted out for her if I pick her.**

 **WhiteEagle1985: Thanks.**

 **AnimeCollector: It really was a big help and yea, Haunter would be a good idea to bring her in if I did chose her so thanks for that as well.**

 **Guest: Aria already is with him.**

 **Espeon44: Sure, another reason is added to Leaf.**

 **Guest: Um.. okay?**

 **And now, let's get going with chapter 16! LET IT COMMENCE!**

 **P.S-It is sort of short but it needed to be this short because of what happens in it.**

* * *

Ash let out a sigh as he fell to the floor.

With a clenched fist, he hit the ground beside him lazily as he curled up in tiredness. For the past few hours, he had been trying his best to make it up to everyone for what happened at the beach, even if they told him that he didn't need to. He had done everything that he could think of; he spent the whole day with them, never leaving their side for a second because of the guilt but now that they were sleeping, his psyche finally allowed him to vent.

But he didn't.

And why should he? 2 people that should be only positively influencing his life are screwing it all up with lies and half-truths, his mind had reached breaking point in only a single days' time but look at all the damage that it has caused already.

Dragging his fingers across the dirt, Ash let his eyes wander around the skies which were covered by the lush green trees of the forest that he was now sitting in. This forest had been his only place of solitude ever since he first reached the island; he had trained here, hid from the girls here, thought here, vented here. But today, he was just reminiscing.

Pushing his other hand to his mouth, he covered it as a yawn escaped. He HAD been up for quite some time worrying about this and most of that had been around the girls but now, being alone and after running into the forest after seeing them off to bed, he felt tiredness just overtake him.

However, there was something that caught his eye when he stretched him arms; his mark. Focusing all of his attention on the mark, he moved his fingers to run over the black marks that stretched across his skin. Flaring his aura, he smiled as the black evaporated in a dark blue haze that spread all up his body like a wild fire. Ever since Arceus presented him with this mark, he has been getting more action than in the last 5 years combined… both good and bad.

As he stared at it, he realised that he didn't really know how to use it. Well, he did, but not too its full potential. Grabbing at the blazing azure, he tried doing everything that he could think of. He pointed the arm and different areas and said different things in different tongues that he had learned across the 5 years alone but that did nothing, releasing small bursts of aura into the wild didn't do anything either so he just kind of tried the silliest idea in his head.

"Uh… summon?" He thought about Arceus as he spoke and after a few seconds, nothing happened. With a sigh, he prepared to walk back to Pokémon Centre but as he turned his back a Godly hue encapsulated the landscape behind him. With a shocked expression painted on his face, Ash turned back to the space that he previously occupied only to see the Arceus standing before him.

" **Greetings, Guardian. Why have you asked for my assistance?"** A small 'smile' crossed Arceus features as he peered at Ash with piercing red eyes, glowing like lights in inky blackness.

"U-h? That actually worked?" Ash spluttered in shock, still trying to figure out how this whole thing actually came about.

" **You summoned me, did you not**?" Another smirk crossed the God's face as he stared at Ash once more.

"Y-Yea, I did but I didn't think that I summoned you by saying… summon. Seems very dull, doesn't it?" Ash questioned, crossing his arms over his chest, wanting to know why such an important feature of his Guardianship was left up to a single word. With a shrug of his shoulders, Arceus just said.

" **It's simple and easy to remember, and that is all a Guardian of the God's needs. Now, why did you summon me?"** Arceus asked, a bit more impatiently.

"What, does God have a lot of things to do up in the Hall of Legends? Such a sit on his throne or count his vast collection of Pokedollars?" Countering Arceus' smirk with his own. The God paued for a moment before his red eyes lit up in challenge.

" **In fact, yes I do. The Throne is very comfortable."** Ash let out a small laugh as he looked back at the God Pokémon. **"Now Ash, what did you summon me for?"**

Looking towards the Pokémon, Ash's face began to contort into a frown.

"Arceus… as this 'Chosen One', can I ask you something?"

" **Anything, Guardian. I can see through time for you, cross dimensions, I can- "**

"Whose lying?" Ash cut him off abruptly, eyes turned to the earth.

" **What?"** The Pokémon took a step towards his champion, his eyes burning with intrigue.

"Who. Is. Lying." Ash repeated, subconsciously taking a step back from the approaching God.

" **And who might 'Who' be?"**

"My parents… which one of them is lying to me about the past." Looking towards Arceus, Ash's brown iris' were filled with confusion and pain. "Which one is it Arceus?"

With a long sigh, Arceus closed his eyes before shuffling around awkwardly for a few seconds. Then, his blaring red eyes shot towards Ash's figure.

" **Guardian, if I tell you this then it must not interfer with your duties as a Guardian. Is that understood?"** A nod from Ash and taking that as his sign to continue, Ash took in a large breath of air.

" **The one who is lying to you… is your mother."**

Shock and anguish was all that filled Ash's features and he stumbled backwards, his body and mind unable to comprehend the answer that he had been given.

"W-W-What?" He stuttered, his voice dying down with every syllable as tears filled his eyes. Regret and sadness flooded the crimson of Arceus' sight as he looked upon the boy.

" **It is true Ash. She felt ashamed and betrayed by your father's actions that left you two alone, even if it was for the right reasons, so she made up that story about him. I am truly sorry that I must deliver this news to you."**

The floodgates broke and Ash just crumbled.

"B-B-But my father did all those terrible things… Didn't he?" Ash spluttered, tears streaming down his face as he fell further to the floor.

" **He did… under the control of others. However, under my eyes a Guardian should never be controlled so it was seen as just as bad as if he did it himself. A Guardian needs to be the strongest human of his time so they cannot be manipulated. I hope that you understand this and that you will only grow from this experience. Now, I must take my leave Guardian. Grieve well, my Champion and I will be seeing you soon."** Bowing to the sobbing teen, Arceus swiftly turned, flashing his crimson orbs once more along with a frown across his face before ascending into the sky in another flash of Godly light.

Digging his fingers into the dirt, Ash just let the tears fall. His mother… had lied to him. His mother, the woman that he respected and looked up to more than anyone was just a lie, a shell that was being consumed by feelings of neglect. HIS MOTHER HAD BETRAYED HIM!

Screaming into the skies above him, Ash let red swam his vision and devour his very essence as his aura burned the Heavens and bathed them in crimson. Ripping off his gloves and throwing them across the ground he positioned his fist above his head. Smashing the ground with his fist, he felt the earth crash and crack and his bones and muscle turn to mush and bloody muscle but he didn't care as he just assaulted the ground.

How?

Why?

Sobs racked his body as tears mixed with blood at his feet. Then, Ash felt something on his shoulder. Slowly twisting his head, he saw what looked like a ghostly version of his father's figure. Leaping at him, he tried to envelop the spirit in a hug but it just vanished beneath his fingers, dashing itself into the earth. Falling down once more, his aura vanished as he realised that he was truly alone now…

No.

No he wasn't.

He still had them.

But, they couldn't see him like this…

Twisting his head, he made a dash towards the ocean in a hope that the salt could burn away his sinful thoughts as well as all his pain. Jumping over stumps and under low laying branches, he just sprinted and sprinted and sprinted and sprinted and sprinted and sprinted and sprinted.

And fell.

Falling face first into the soft white sands of the beach, he crawled over to the vast sea of blue. Ducking his head into the water, he felt the salt start to eat away at his flesh and at his eyes but that was just the distraction that he needed at the moment. He was in pain, and he needed something to redirect that pain… so he just caused himself more pain, a different kind of pain. Pushing his head back up to the surface, Ash cried and cried into the depths of the ocean until a voice pulled him out of his haze of sadness.

"Ash."

There, standing before him on the beach, was Gary Oak, someone that had been plaguing Ash's mind because of what he had done to him all those years ago. However, Ash didn't care at the minute. Gary understood. Gary knew what was going on. He always had, ever since they were kids. Rushing out of the water, he crashed into Gary, the Professor's body not moving as Ash enveloped him a hug and began to cry into his shoulder. Without any hesitation, Gary wrapped his arms around his friend and let him cry.

"It's alright Ash, I'm here for you, man. I'm here for you."

And there they stood for the next hour, with one friend comforting another in their time of need.

A betrayer helping the betrayed with another betrayal.

Huh, ironic.

* * *

 **OOOH! SO MUCH DRAMA! AND STUFF! AND THINGS! OH MY LORD! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that and the twist, However, is that the whole story? Probably. I ain't that smart. Now, one thing; in a few chapters, I'll put a pole for other girls in the harem... After I figure out how to set up a pole, so you guys can vote on a number of girls then. And now I leave you with the current harem lsit:**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Cynthia**

 **Angie**

 **Aria**

 **Miette (Not introduced yet)**

 **(blank)**

 **(blank)**

 **So there are two spaces left and you will be able to vote on those later. But for now, i will leave you with the ntoe that there will be another update soon... Hopefully. And so I bid you, farewell! Goodbye!**

 **-Jack**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello everybody and welcome back to Life Is! I told you the next chapter out would be pretty quick.**

 **In the last 15 or so days, I got my results of my exams back... They were decent, nothing really outstanding but I PASSED! EVERY SINGLE... well, I got D in Geography but Geography is bullshit in England at the minute; I mean come on, 70% is a C!? Anyway I always have next year...**

 **Now to answer some questions!**

 **First off though... I FUCKED UP BAD! Yes, I forgot to add Korrina into the list... don't execute me please... But, now that I have added her back (completely my mistake) I have to decide whether i will still have 2 slots or only 1 slot open for when I open the pole (which will be today hopefully). I'll let you guys decide that.**

 **Guest: Thanks... And I already went over Korrina (I'm sorry I forgot her) as for the others... don't really know 'em that well cause I didn't really watch Kanto or Johto at all so... But thanks for the suggestions.**

 **AuPokeFicsFan2000: Thanks... Seriously, stop please, I screwed up, I get it! But seriously, I would feel weird including my own OC in Ash's list, like I'm robbing you guys of some enjoyment because I want some. I write to entertain you guys. But I really like your idea and I will probably include it so thank you.**

 **AuraBro: Stop... Please...**

 **Zeckromizder: Stop... Stop it... But thank you.**

 **Knight6398: Thanks, I wanted add a spin on it (FORESHADOWING!) and you'll learn about Gary this very chapter! And as for your ideas:**

 **1)I really like the idea. We need some more guy time! Wait, no... Don't take that out of context, please.**

 **2)They were never in the anime, were they? I don't think so but I won't mind writing for any of those 3 characters.**

 **3)Yea, I'll do this as well.**

 **4)We tried doing that... It didn't work very well.**

 **Thanks for your ideas!**

 **Cobalt: Damn... I'm sorry. What did I do to disappoint you if you don't mind, you know so I can improve in the future. And the pole is coming today! Hopefully...**

 **TheMischeviousPuppyDog: Thank you and yeah, i wished that there were more chapters too but now I have 6 weeks off so... YAY! As for your suggestion, i wouldn't be against it, I don't mind Bianca or Latias but you know, viewers choice. I'll put her in the pole because of your good reasoning so thank you for that.**

 **PokemonPoko: So, you go to the super market and you go to the fruit section. There should be a massive crate of lemons there. Hope this helps! No, but seriously, haven't written any yet. He needs to build these bridges up again before he goes around fucking them.**

 **FanFicMeisterL Yeah, it was. Betrayal hits hard (FORESHADOWING!) (MAYBE!) and thank you.**

 **Guest: Yep, those are the current harem girls.**

 **One-Trick Man: Yea, it was kind of obvious... or was it? Yea, yea it was obvious. Also, I like reading fics with Hilda in (even if I don't like the games that she stars in. Although I am playing through Black 2 for the first time at the minute and I am really enjoying it). Thanks for the suggestion. And stop it... Please...**

 **Guest: Stop... You're hurting my soul...**

 **Bradley98: I don't really like Diantha. I don't know what it is about her but she just rubs me the wrong way I guess. But others have suggested her so I'll add her to the pole.**

 **FranzelGiordani: Wow... Um, thank you. I don't really think that it is that good but I really appreciate that. I am trying to become a write of some kind so thank you once more...**

 **ButterMan274: Me to man, me to...**

 **King Reeses: Yep, i hope that he can pull through. And it will be interesting when they meet, trust me... I hope. And thank you for le suggestions. And with your help to set up the pole... that should be set up soon... I hope.**

 **Guest: YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE!**

 **Animaman: Thank you and yea, it hurts. I haven't really played or looked at the Coliseum games, i mean I have the original but I didn't really play it but if it has anything to do with Aura, I'll probably have a look at them.**

 **ArticunoMaster: I' actually gonna die...**

 **AnimeCollector: Not anymore but thank you for the offer.**

 **MANBearPIG01: Thanks, like I said they went okay and thanks for the suggestions.**

 **RedThePokemonMaster: I'll add them to the pole due to your comments on them.**

 **AshKetchumDarkside: Thanks and looks like another Leaf supporter, hm?**

 **Espeon44: Another Leaf and Salvia... isn't that just another Dawn but posher? Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and don't worry, Jessie won't be there.**

 **Guest: Another Leaf (Ha, 3 times) and Miette is already in it.**

 **NatureAce: Was I really gone that long that it was a comeback? Wow...**

 **Yaw613: Add them to the pole and thank you.**

 **Now onto chapter 17! Let's go!**

 **P.S: All the 'KILL ME' stuff with the Korrina comments is a joke... Just thought I'd let you know.**

* * *

Ash just stared at his drink, eyes blurry and the skin surrounding them red raw.

He had long since abandoned the beach in favour of a bar. Now, instead of eating sand when he fell to the ground or having the sea burn his skin, he was eating a large amount of bark when he fell and alcohol was burning his body instead. Around him, he could hear the rowdy noises of the islands wildlife inside the bar as well as some of the surrounding Pokémon outside of it. With a huff he swirled the beer bottle around in his hands, watching contently as dark brown liquid made its way round the glass in a whirlpool. Beside him, he felt a presence sigh.

"Ash, beer is meant to be for drinking." Looking next to him, Ash saw the smirking figure of Gary Oak, the Pokémon Professor holding a drink of his own in his hand. "Come on, didn't your Mom teach you not to play with your food? Or drink in this case."

At the mere mention of his Mother, Ash's teeth embedded themselves into the parallel row and his eyes turned red and fiery and the bottle he was holding began to crack at the neck. Noticing his mistake almost immediately, Gary sighed before taking the bottle out of Ash's grasp before he could break it and put it down a few centimetres before his shaking hands.

"And they aren't used for breaking either." A small frown crossed Gary's face as Ash's eyes began to cloud again, tears filling them up to the brim. "Look man, I know that this is hard for you to accept but it's better to be here then at the beach, on your own, drowning yourself in sand or water, right? Instead, you're just drowning your sorrows in alcohol." He took a sip of his own drink.

"Gary, you aren't very good at this whole consoling thing." Ash glared up at the man, who simply shrugged his shoulders. A thought crossed the teens mind as he stared at the man, one of 'Why the Hell did I let him take me here after everything that he has done to me?' That one idea had been plaguing his mind since first coming across the Professor a few hours ago at the beach and it hadn't really set in until Gary left to go buy the two of them beer.

"Never was, never had any parents to teach me how to be good at it and Gramps was always busy with Pokémon and I was always busy being mean to you. Ha, good times." He joked before taking another big gulp of his drink. Glancing back, he saw that the teary eyes had turned into glaring eyes.

"Hey, I know what you are going through." Ash was about to yell at him, about how he didn't understand shit but Gary stopped him before he could. "A parents, 2 in my case, who had lied to you for years, saying that something was true such as that they were going to come back and get you from your Grandad after their trip was over or that the other was a horrible person and then after so many years, you learn that they lied to you… And you feel like absolute shit."

Ash looked back at this man who he thought death upon for the last 5 years and how he was opening up to him about how he understood. It was… something else.

With a chuckle, Ash looked back at his crack bottle.

"Yeah, I guess you do understand." Picking up the bottle, he held it up to his face before downing the contents in one. After the fiery liquid ran down the back of his throat, he shuddered at the feeling, slamming the glass back down onto the table. "You know; I can't get drunk unless something has a super high concentration of alcohol?" He asked, peeking the interest of Mr. Oak.

"Oh?"

"Yea, I found out about it when I was on Mt. Silver. I tried drinking so many bottles of shit when I was 16… Don't ask me how I got them." Gary let out a chuckle as he looked at his… friend? "Well, I went through about 30 bottles in one night before I felt drunk. I think that it's due to my aura or something like that; like it raises my metabolism so it burns through alcohol faster or something. I don't really know."

"Maybe." Gary murmured, placing the rim of the bottle to his lips.

"Hey, you're the scientist, you should know this kind of shit." The two shared a laugh as Ash continued to ponder on his thoughts.

"Gary." His voice turned serious.

"Yes?" And Gary knew what he was going to ask.

"Why did you betray me?"

A sigh was his reply. Turning to the man, he saw him finish his bottle, turn to the bar keeper and ask for another drink before turning back to Ash.

"We weren't trying to." Once again, Ash's eyes filled with anger but he kept his voice down.

"What the fuck do you mean you weren't trying to betray me?" He turned his body to look at the Professor and the frown on his face meant that something was up. Looking down, Ash could see red aura bursting off of his body and boiling over into the space around him.

"I'll have to tell you the whole story." With a sigh, Gary pulled his seat closer to Ash's but waited a few moments for the barman to come back with his drink. "I'm gonna need another one, George." He spoke to the man, giving him a small grin. After receiving his other drink, he huffed before looking Ash dead in the eye.

"Your father was a horrible man, was he not?" Ash hesitated in his answer. Arceus said that he was being controlled by something at that time but still… Subduing his anger even more, he nodded. "Of course he was; Hell, he used the Legends of each region to wage a war that last quite a bloody long time. The Bird Trio caused havoc in Kanto, Lugia and Ho-Oh wrecked several monuments in Johto, Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza caused untold levels of destruction in Hoenn, Dalgia and Palkia fell victim to his attacks in Sinnoh as did the Lake Guardians who he used to manipulate the public into trusting him, Reshiram and Zekrom along with Kyurem decimated parts of Unova. Thank God he didn't reach Kalos… Imagine what he could have done with Yveltal and Xerneas…" He paused for a bit and looked at Ash to make sure that he was listening.

"So, after all that destruction, he was finally killed. The Legends were set free and the world was at peace once more. However… you know that you have a sort of half-sister right?" Ash nodded, but then looked up in surprise.

"It's a girl?"

"Yea, she's coming to the Tournament I think… Anyway, I spoke to her mom one day while looking through Delia's old photos… They were friends." Once again, he looked at Ash, who was trying to stop his mind from slandering his Mother. "I went to speak to her and she told me what kind of behaviour your father had when he reached the town that your mother was living in… She told me a lot of things; he was arrogant and controlling but had this sort of dominate feeling and addictive sense of drive for something and this was all due to his Aura… we think. And then I saw you in the Kalos League and you had all of these things; you were getting more arrogant but only a little and your control over your Pokémon was incredible, but you also had the edge most of time and, Hell, you've always had the drive. But then it hit me; you knew how to use Aura."

Ash was about to ask how he knew but Gary answered him. "May and Max told me. During all my research on your father and what he had done to the Legendries, that was where I got the contacts from, everything pointed towards it being his Aura and his position as a Guardian that led him to do all of the horrible things that he had done."

"Arceus said that he was being controlled…" Ash muttered.

"You spoke to Arceus?" The brown haired Professor asked, earning a glare in return. "Alright, but seriously that makes this idea of it being his aura even more concrete. Someone or something was controlling the way he used Aura by manipulating some kind of Aura in his own body that let them have access. Do you see what I'm trying to get at?"

Ash shook his head.

"Thought not. Ash… You could have been just as dangerous as him… You were beginning to show the traits that your Father had had and even if he was being controlled, that means that you also could have been controlled by the same force but the only difference being that you have a much stronger Aura…" With a sigh, Gary looked down and Ash could see the regret and sadness in his eyes. "I talked to the rest of the group and gave them my evidence but the girls weren't available so I talked to the rest of them… And most of them agreed with me. Ash you have to understand that we were trying to protect everyone in Kanto, maybe even in Johto or Hoenn or Sinnoh… We made a difficult call that none of us wanted to do; well Drew kind of wanted to but he's always been a dick." Bringing his head back up, he looked at Ash dead on.

"It was you or the world. You're like my brother but I needed to make the better call… And that meant that you had to go, meant that I had to be extreme in order to get you to leave and the guy's agreed with me. That day, when you were up at the ranch, we all debated almost all day but when you got in sight, Barry messaged me and told me that you were coming so I started to raise my voice in order for you to hear. We could have gone about it so many different ways but that was all I could think of at the time…" Tears were pricking at Gary's eyes now and that even shocked Ash.

"I didn't want to do it man… I really didn't. I love you like a brother and that was easily the worst thing that I had to do… I am so s- "Before he could finish, Ash embraced the Professor in a hug.

"It's okay Gary, it's okay. I understand." He only felt a single tear fall onto his shoulder but that was enough for Ash to know that he was being genuine. Pulling back, the two friends looked back at each other. "However, I'd kind of like to know about the whole 'kick me out' scheme beforehand next time."

"Oh there is never gonna be a next time, Ashy-Boy. Never again." The two smirked at each other before Ash bought something to Gary's attention.

"What about that attitude that you and the guys had. I mean, Paul and Trip were practically the same but Drew and Kenny and Barry were being way bigger assholes then I remember… Apart from Drew."

"They just saw an opportunity to get the girls of their dreams now that you were gone. I had it up in case you ever came back." Silence fell over the two.

"What happens if you were right?" Ash's question shocked Gary, who just stared at him open mouthed. "What happens if I do end up getting controlled and manipulated like him?"

"Ash, that isn't gonna happen, got it? It just isn't." Gary looked at him with such fire in his eyes that Ash believed it.

"Alright man, now let's catch up on old times, huh?" And with that, Ash snatched Gary's extra beer from him.

"Thought that you couldn't get drunk on this shit?"

"Might as well try."

* * *

Ash was back at the beach.

He was alone this time, just looking out at the ocean as he thought about what had happened that day. Someone that he had deemed trustworthy wasn't and someone that he had pegged as a traitor was just someone looking out for the world… he chuckled to himself.

"Real fucked up world we live in." His chocolate eyes fell to the luscious yellow sand and how his pale skin contrasted against it. Digging his toes into the earth, he turned to leave but something pinged in his aura.

Twisting on his heels, he looked out to see that the thing was coming from… the ocean? Taking a few steps towards the beautiful blue sea, he walked cautiously as to not alert the thing in the water.

However, that didn't really work.

As soon as he got close enough to the water, a small body leapt out of the water and collided with his chest, sending him onto his back and into the sandy beach below. Recovering from his accident, Ash blinked a few times before looking towards the lightweight on his chest.

Sitting on his chest was a tiny blue Pokémon, its short stubby legs digging into his shirt. It long but still quite short arms gripped at the same piece of fabric and the beautiful ruby that lay at the creature's body dug into his skin hard. But its face, so innocent and child-like, with wide blue eyes ringed with yellow that were filling with tears and with a single antenna sticking out of the top of its large head.

Ash was speechless as they two looked at each other and tears began to fill his own eyes. But not those of sadness… but those of happiness. And his heart soared even more when he heard the next word that left it mouth.

"Papa!"

* * *

 **AND DONE! Now one of my favourite Legendaries is here (Don't judge the movie was amazing) and Gary has made his amends. I hope that that aspect is okay as I've never really seen a lot of Fics where the traitors have a good reason for getting rid of Ash so I hope that was good. Anyway! Pole should be up so get voting and stuff! Next chapter... i honestly have no idea what's gonna happen. A Tournament fight and a mother and her 'child' reuniting I believe... The pole should be up by now, I set it up and it should be on my profile page. This is my first time setting up a poll so I hope I did it right. Now, here is the current harem list so I will bid you GOODBYE!**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Angie**

 **Aria**

 **Cynthia**

 **Miette**

 **Korrina (I AM SO SORRY I FORGOT YOU)**

 **(blank)**

 **(blank) (maybe) (too many brackets)**

 **-Jack**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey Oh everyone, welcome back.**

 **Now I know that I didn't upload at all during my summer but hey, I need to enjoy myself before I get thrown back into my last year. But, I did write something that is a little longer than my usual chapters for this month so I hope that makes up for it. Now, before I start this chapter will touch some kind of heavy topics near the end, nothing like chapter eleven with the whole dream thing but something else that I will address at the end after you have read it.**

 **Anyway, another thing I wanna do is thank you all so much for 100,000 views.** **I... I honestly have no words. Well I do but, you know. I mean, I started this to just make a few people happy but now it had evolved into this whole thing and I seriously cannot thank you al enough and if this is crazy enough, we are only 3 followers away from 500... that is... this all just... this is all too much for some one like me but trust me, I never take any of this for granted. Seriously, I was so happy when I hit this milestone that I messaged pretty much all my friends who know about my writing and just blabbered onto them about the whole thing. But honestly, as long as I make one person happy with my writing I will be happy... So again, thank you for the support.**

 **Also, I just wanted you to know that I really had no idea what I was doing with the pole to be honest and so many more people are suggesting others that I think that I will close the current one down and start a new one up with EVERYONE'S idea if that is alright with everyone else; I just want to give everyone a fair shot. So, I will go back and look at everyone suggested and pile them up into one super-pole that should be out by next chapter. Thanks for understanding, I just want it to be fair. And, if you are a guest and can't vote just tell me which 2 girl you vote for.**

 **And now... the reviews.**

 **King Reeses: Yea, it was good. I think the whole 'evil people who betray him' kind of thing was old was I wanted to mix it up. And thanks fort he kind words about the exams.**

 **Animaman: Thanks and did I really? Never really noticed but hey, new pole later on so people can vote and shit... Well later. These original votes were very interesting though. And Zygarde and Giritina were left out cause Zygarde was kind of secret and not many people knew about him and Giritina was in his Distortion realm, and the mythicals will be coming. Case in point, little Prince of the Sea in this chapter.**

 **Anime Collector: I just hate B/W in general and I've heard that the X/Y movies are kind of meh but the X/Y anime, OH MY GOD IT IS THE BEST THAT THE ANIME HAS EVER BEEN, THERE IS ACTUAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR ONCE. Its really good.**

 **FanFic Meister: Yep, that's how it goes.**

 **Erazor Djinn: Sonic and the Secret Rings? Anyway, thanks and yeah... it'll be a surprise that's for sure.**

 **And now onto** **chapter 18... My one button is broken so I need to copy paste stuff... It kind of sucks.**

* * *

Ash was just in total shock.

The happiness that he was feeling has paralyzed him, the sparks of joy coursing throughout his body. Tears were pricking and stinging the edges of his eyes as he gazed upon the small Legend that was huddled on his chest.

"M-M-Manaphy?" Ash shakily asked, reached out his palm to thumb the blue Pokémon's cheek to just make sure that this all was real: Hell, after all the shit that happened in the last day from his journey to the Champions box, then his venture off to the beach where he had his little…. Mishap, and then that lead to his whole conversation with Arceus and that in itself lead to him meting up with Gary and that whole thing lead to this and after all the tears and the fears and the alcohol and-

"Phi, Papa…" The small cooing of the Pokémon on top of him bought him out of his musing and sent gentle vibrations throughout his rib cage. Another grin slowly but surely formed onto Ash's face as he embraced the small Pokémon to his body, holding his close with the thoughts and look of an over protective parent; his grip tight and constricting but loving and gentle to the Prince of the Sea.

With the shallow humming of Manaphy below and the wishing and washing of the waves being the only sounds to accompany the air, the messy haired teen contemplated just collapsing and falling asleep out of exhaustion right here, right now. His eye-lids had just begun to fall when he felt a small tug on his shirt. Gazing down, bathing in the light of red crimson that was emitting from the child-like Pokémon's orb, his eyes met with the Pokémon's once more.

"Mama?" Shaking his head side to side at the reliance that the Legend had towards the woman that he deemed to be his mother.

"Don't worry Manaphy, Mama is here. Everyone's here and I'm sure that they will be very happy to see you." The gleeful smile and giggles that emerged from Manaphy couldn't be contained by the very world itself as he burrowed his head into Ash's chest causing the raven haired boy to laugh at the gesture. Looking back up after a few seconds, his wide pupils were screaming with excitement.

"Mama! Mama! Mama!" The orbs that stared back at him were so full of innocence and happiness and longing and… sorrow? That wasn't right; what did the Prince of the Sea have to feel sorrowful about? Was it him and May leaving? No, surely he would have gotten over it by now…

Another poke was directed at him, this time the small limbs of the blue sea dweller hit his nose very lightly which got Ash's attention once more. Looking around, he noted the high moon in the air that was just now beginning its decent and how the red glow that shielded him from the surrounding darkness perfectly lit up to be a perfect indicator to how late it truly was. With a sigh, he looked back at the hopeful Prince.

"Mama is probably asleep right now, buddy. We'll have to go off and see her tomorrow." The Pokémon's large eyes shrank slightly and he closed his mouth, the bottom lip had beginning to quiver. Leaning up some more and holding Mananphy to his chest he spoke to him in a soft tone. "Hey, hey, cheer up buddy. If we go to see her now, she'll be far too tired and won't be able to give as good hugs or be able to say hello to you properly. In the morning, she'll be all better and ready to just hug you to bits, alright. So just be a good little Prince and wait for a bit, okay?" Ash actually had no idea how to deal with a small child, let alone a small child-like Pokemon but what he just said had managed to calm the creature down a large amount.

The calm sounds of the ocean were soon interrupted by a loud yawn as Ash stood up, digging his lower ten digits into the wet sand. With a small chuckle, Ash observed Manaphy as he stretched his little arms and the orb on the back of its head swung around wildly as he did so. It was very cute, if Ash was going to comment on it.

"Looks like someone if very, very tired, aren't you?" Said Pokemon attempted to drive its head into Ash's chest again as it lazily shook its head from side to side. "I think you are, I bet your pretty exhausted from…" Pausing for a brief moment, Ash let his gaze slide over to the vast, winding ocean before him. Did Manaphy come all this way on his own? Or…

"Hey buddy, did Arceus send you over here?"

And the reaction he got was unexpected to say the least. The tiny sea-dweller went frigged and still in his arms and Ash had to actually check if he was still here and not knocked out somehow or that he had fallen asleep. Instead, Manaphy's eyes were wide open and un-moving. Worry crept over Ash's form; what the Hell was this? This happened when he mentioned Arceus so maybe the two had been having difficulties? Like son-and-father difficulties…. Well, Pokémon son-and-father difficulties such as... Manaphy wanted to come and see him and May but Arceus was waiting until the tournament so the small Pokémon had just set off on his own. He truly had no idea.

"You run away from home, pal?"

After a few seconds, he turned back to see that the Pokémon was now asleep, resting in his warm embrace.

"Don't worry about it pal, we'll talk some more tomorrow." Turning away from the ocean's glare, Ash began to walk over to his shoes that he had left abandoned further back when he first got here. Shuffling the Pokémon onto his left arm, he simply picked the trainers up before carrying them back onto the harder land. After debating for a few seconds, he reasoned that the way through the forest was probably the best idea considering that the forest was right behind his hotel and it was a direct way there compared to if he went back via the towns and actual paths, which would take much longer.

Huffing it into the lush forest, his feet sinking into the brown, soft earth, he let out a sigh as he continued to move before the lush greenery. However, that was more of a subconscious thing to do at this point as his brain was in a whole other reality.

Did Arceus send Manaphy as some sort of coping mechanism for the betrayal of his mother? Perhaps… but it didn't understand the child's strange behaviour either and what about the God Pokémon himself. Earlier on, he seemed rather on edge and snappy but I guess that all faded when he had to tell Ash about that news…

Shaking his head, Ash let his mind go back to nothingness for a few minutes as he enjoyed the dark woods as he wandered; Manaphy's head light acted as some sort of sinister flash-light with the crimson light spreading all across the wood. About 5 minutes later though, he felt something happen with his aura. Shuffling Manaphy around one more, he gazed down at his mark.

Blue aura began to rise up from his skin and dance all up his skin and form, circling and spinning around the pieces of flesh that weren't covered by the black mark. Ash's chocolate pupils followed the trail of dragon fire until it ran all the way up to the sleeping Pokémon. Parental instinct took over Ash's head but he couldn't bring himself to move as he watched the blue flares come into contact with the blue Pokémon. With wide eyes, he watched as the aura spiralled around his small body before sinking into his skin and a point on the back of his left hand and as all the surrounding aura entered, the air was still.

And then Manaphy opened his eyes.

Instead of the normal orbs of aquamarine that he was used to, he was met with diluted pools of aura blue that glowed brightly with intent gazing directly at him. The two had a small stare off as Ash felt his gaze melt into aura as well. In the state that was in, Ash could see a small chain of aura begin to connect from Manaphy's hand towards his own hand, linking and seamlessly and painlessly digging into his skin before it all vanished. Manaphy's sight returned to normal and he flopped back down.

The air was silent until Ash decided to make some kind of movement.

"H-Hey Manaphy, buddy wake up." As if one the dot, Ash say something light up below his mark before Manaphy came back up with the same dark blue, blazing eyes of aura. There was no way that…. Gazing down he pulled up his hand that existed below his mark and right there, he found another strange mark. It danced around his wrist and looked like some kind of thread made of water that connected back up with original mark near the centre. And it was glowing, but only that part.

He… he was controlling Mananphy.

"Manaphy, go back to sleep." And he did. As the Pokémon fell back down, Ash could feel a vast and large amount of aura leave his body and he almost fell to his knees due to it. So… this was what Arceus meant by his mark controlling the minds of Legendries, maybe that fancy light show was him and Manaphy becoming connected in some way that allowed him to do just that. Although, if just telling a tiny Pokémon like Manaphy to simply fall asleep and wake up took that much out of him, he now understood what the God meant when he said that it could very well kill him.

Clutching the Pokémon back to his chest, he decided that he was never going to use it for malicious purposes, if use it at all for that matter…

Pushing further into the forest, he just decided to forget it for the time being and just try and get back before something else crazy happened.

* * *

Stumbling through the door of the Pokémon Centre, Ash noted that he was the only still awake. Hell, even Rosy and Joyce were asleep at the front desk, surrounded by a crowd of absolutely no-one. Glancing up at the clock, Ash could see why. It was 4:20 in the morning. With a sigh, Ash realised that meant that his match was beginning in about 6 hours; not enough time to get ready and sleep efficiently…

Dragging his feet against the floor, he smiled as he passed the sleeping sisters and went to the elevator to get to his floor. To be honest, he was pretty thankful that there was nobody about because that meant that Manaphy could remain asleep. As the heavy steel doors slid open, Ash was still trying to decide what to do.

Train or sleep…

Sleep or train...

With another sigh, he stepped in and briefly scanned the area to look for his shoulder riding companion. A sad frown crossed his face as he found him in one of the girl's rooms and punched in the floor number. Lately, he noted that he seemed to be kind of ignoring the electric mouse as of light due to all the crazy that had been going down and the very idea of that left him sad.

Hey, just add hanging out with Pikachu some more into his check-list of things to do.

The doors opened with a ding and as Ash approached the room that held Pikachu in it, he smiled when he saw that it was May's room.

' _Perfect.'_

Scanning the room with his aura once more, he saw that Pikachu was more situated towards the door than May was so when he got to the door, he gave the piece of Oak a very quiet tap that he hoped would just be loud enough to wake Pikachu but not May. After a few moments, Ash saw Pikahcu's ear flick up and the Pokémon raise his head so he knocked again. This time, the yellow Pokémon walked over to the door in a very slow fashion before leaping up and quietly turning the handle, hopping back down onto the floor when he finished.

Ash smirked when his partners sleepy face emerged into an excited and happy one when he saw it was his trainer at the door. He was about to release his trademark squeal but Ash shushed him before motioning to his shoulder. When he saw the shocked expression become etched onto Pikachu's face, he almost burst out laughing but he refrained himself and instead held out the small Pokémon to Pikachu. Although confused, Pikachu accepted the Pokémon however he almost fell over in the process.

This time a chuckle escaped Ash's throat as he motioned a 2 with his fingers before zipping off with his aura to his own room, no longer worried about what would happen with Manaphy. In no time at all, he was back with a small note which he also gave to Pikachu. Poor little yellow bugger looked like he was about to collapse. With a small smile, he patted his head before waving at Pikachu and ushering him back inside May's room. Although he was sort of sad to send him away, that was taken away when Pikachu smiled at him and quietly cooed before closing the door in Ash's face.

Shaking his head, he scanned the room until Pikachu placed Manaphy next to May on the bed and the note on her dresser before collapsing back onto his own place on the bed before passing out again. Another chuckle. This was followed by a hard scowl however as Ash was still trying to decide what to do. He could feel the exhaustion eating away at him but he knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep with what happened today. With a sigh, he walked back to the elevator, deciding not to try and exercise his aura any more due to him still sort of recovering from his encounter with Manaphy in the forest.

As the bell dinged with every movement up, Ash began to think. Reflect for the 3rd time that day. However, it truly got to him now. It truly hit him right in the chest about what he was feeling and about what had happened to him but he refused to cry any more. Now… now was just the start of the healing process. Walking out of the elevator and into his room, he quickly stripped out of his clothes before flipping the shower onto its hottest and he sighed in relief when he felt it numb his skin.

Numb.

That was the perfect word to describe how he needed to feel right now. Everything just needed to melt together into one and move past him until he gathered the strength to fix it and let it return to normal. Planting his head against the cooler tile, he let his eyelids fall shut as the water cleansed him of his sins.

With slow movements, his eyes barely began to open before they shot open. Had he fallen asleep? With a groan, he began to pick himself up from the floor as smouldering hot water continued to fall onto his body. Planting his palm into the tile, he gritted his teeth before pushing himself up and turning the water off, the cold instantly beginning to eat away at him but he didn't mind. Like he said, he needed to feel numb.

Running his hand through his wet hair, he picked up a towel before walking out into the main area of the room as the fabric began to dry him off. Rolling his head back and popping a few bones was all Ash needed to feel fully awake as he gazed out onto the view before him. The sun was just beginning to peak its head above the clouds. So, it should be about six. His match was at eleven **.** So, about 4 hours before he had to actually be at the stadium and five till his match. Throwing the towel away, Ash let the beautiful array of colours wash over his body as he picked out his clothes for the day.

Deciding to go with the blue version of his outfit, he slipped it on casually before deciding to go for a short run to cool his head and get his head ready for the match. As he dragged his feet to the door, he could feel something holding him back.

He had barely seen her since he got here and now he found out that she was lying to him?

With a sigh, Ash leant against his door before fishing into his pockets for a key card. The key card to his mother's room. She had given it to him a few days ago when he ran into her before a match. Holding the card in his hand, he bolted out of the room and thundered down the stairs and just kept running until he reached Delia's door.

When he first found it a few days ago, it was a sign of hope. Now? It was just a sign of fuck ups. Slowly inserting the key card in, he opened the door quietly before shutting it just as quickly. Yes, he knew this was fucked up and he knew that she was probably sleeping but he couldn't help it; he needed to see her to move on or at least try before his match in a few hours.

Lighting up his mark to a dim blue, he used it as a makeshift lamp much like with Manaphy earlier that day and looked around the room. Luckily for him, the room had a separate room where the bed was compared to the living area so he could walk around pretty normally.

Stepping forward, Ash felt his foot come into contact with something soft. Looking down he saw that there were several clothes strewn about the floor, lazily thrown about. Well, she had been inside for almost the whole time that they were here so maybe she just got pretty lazy… But his mother was never like this… she was never really a messy person.

Continuing his venture, he stumbled into the living room only to see it a mess as well; bottles and mugs left on the table with brown tea stains coating the tables and floor with more clothes thrown around. However, what intrigued him the most was a small white cylinder on the table. Walking towards it, he picked it up. It was empty… Spinning it round, his eyes went wide to realise that these, these were tablets used to help anxiety. Shock gripped his body. Anxiety? His mom had anxiety? Was… was it him?

Now, he was conflicted. She had betrayed him… but there was something wrong with this whole picture in front of him and he just couldn't place it… And what's worse is that he could constantly sense this strange presence that was distorted and imposing but also quite familiar but it was definitely different but it wasn't but-

Crushing the plastic tube in his hand, he quickly scanned the room and found 3 other tubes. There was something terribly wrong here. Or… was there. Ash froze for a second as he let reality wash over him.

His mother had anxiety, and she was taking tablets to help her get through it. Okay. And she had been in here all the time due to her anxiety which she has been trying to treat so the mess is understandable. Correct. Maybe he was just blowing this out of proportion.

Shaking his head, his eyes focused on the door to the bedroom and before he could stop himself he was by the door. Fingers gripped the metal and he pushed it open before sneakily entering. Now, he was just standing over her and from what he could see, the bedroom was much like the rest of the room; messy and with stuff just left everywhere. However, his eyes focused on one thing.

A picture of him when he was younger.

Picking it up, he noted that it was the day that he had left top go on his original journey. A sad smile crossed his face when he thought of that. His mom really cared about him… cared about him enough that she would lie to him. With a scowl, he set the picture back down before focusing in on the curled up form of his mother, blankets wrapped around her whole body.

She was fine, his mind told him.

She was fine, his body told him.

She… was… fine, his heart told him. Turning back, he quickly exited the room, content that his visit had helped him learn a few new things about the one whole raised him, as well as learn that she was fine at the minute.

What he didn't know though was that she knew that he was there.

"A-Ash…"

* * *

Pushing out into the main hall, Ash just wandered out.

Running his hands down his face, he felt his eyes drawn to the two sisters who were still sleeping on the desk. A smirk now crossed his face before he moved forward and flicked them both in the ear. Hey, it was opening hours for the two of them.

An unhealthy moan came from the two of them.

"Come on you two, you have work." Ash mocked the two, who just began to glare at him through blurry eyes,

"So, you haven't really come to speak to us for ages and the first time you do is when we were having very nice dreams? Thanks asshole." Rosie commented, poking him while she maintained her glare. Joyce was still just moaning in discomfort.

"Uh, she gonna be okay?" Ash asked, not actual sure if the more stereotypical nurse was going to be okay going off the sounds she was making.

"She's always been a light sleeper but a light sleeper who likes sleep so that means that she has to get up a lot and she hates getting up." Rose commented, rambling on as Ash just sort of awkwardly stared.

"Okay then… Well, I'm going out for a run so don't… I don't know, fall asleep on the job?" Ash said, starting to walk backwards as Joyce had now gotten up. And her glare was fixed onto him.

"Fuck you Ketchum."

"Okay, leaving now." He said with a smile before jogging out into the mid-summer heat. Hey, you need a good laugh every now and again. Especially with what had happened to him in the last day. Even Hell needed a good day once in a while.

Or so he hoped.

* * *

 **And done. Now, I know what is one some of your minds. The thing with the meds and Delia will play into the story more, I am not using it to mock or undermine the situation or anyone affected by it, its a very serious thing that people need to take more seriously but yes, it will play into the story. Other then that, I hope you enjoyed. Like I said, hopefully a new pole will be coming with a longer list so people don't have to keep requesting people who aren't on the poles so that should be done pretty soon so I will see you guys later... Fucking broken one button.**

 **Goodbye. See? Not the same effect.**

 **-Jack**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello everybody and welcome back to Life Is!**

 **So... uh... 1 year, huh?**

 **One whole fucking year.**

 **Geez. Just... wow.**

 **I have been sitting at my desk and wasting away my life for a whole year.**

 **Jokes but seriously, I can't believe that it has been one year since this story released and I only really have you all to thank for it. I know that if you actually read these that you are sick and tired of hearing that but it's the truth; thank you all so damn much. I never started this thinking that it would have the following that it has in only a year but it has and 18 chapters, and 69,000 words later here we are. Yes, I could have done better, definitely, but this is my first story and I am so proud of it. So once again, thank you so, so much.**

 **Now, onto this year. I am still at school unfortunately but I am in my last year now which means 2 things; 1. I have a shorter amount of time actually at school and 2. I have to do some much fucking work this year. Yep, the unfortunate fact is that I have to study hard for my exams later this year and that will eat time away from my social life (not that I had one to begin with) so I may not be able to upload all that much the way I am going...**

 **But now I have a schedule! I kn** **ow, crazy right! It only took a year of doing this to actually get a schedule... So, I have 4 stories on the go at this moment in time and I obviously won't be able to get a chapter out for every story every week but I do have a plan. So.. here it is.**

 **Week One: Thurs/Life Is Black and White Sun/Slayer's Flame**

 **Week Two: Thurs/Bonds With The Devil Sun/Heart Fire**

 **Week Three: Thurs/Life Is Black and White Sun/Slayer's Flame**

 **Week Four: Thurs/Bonds With The Devil Sun/Heart Fire**

 **So yes, I should be getting a chapter of this out every 2 weeks on Thursday... You know its kind of a bad sign when your first update on a schedule is one day after the initial day. *sigh* Anyway, I hope that this year will be good for this story and all that so Yay! Now to go over some stuff in the reviews.**

 **1\. Thank you for the reviews.**

 **2\. All those who submitted OC's, i have seen them and am going to incorporate everyone in someway, don't worry. Thanks for sending them in. And remember, you can send in OC's at any time.**

 **3\. Thanks for everyone who commented on the whole pole issue. I will be compiling the pole results with results from the reviews and will be posting the results within the next 3 updates so look out for that.**

 **So thanks for all that jazz but now onto Chapter 19, a more celebratory chapter then the last couple but still bringing in that plot.**

 **Now onto Chapter 19!**

* * *

Sunlight trickled slowly into the room via the blinds as the orb of heat began to rise into the blue sky.

Bleeding towards the bed and desk and cupboard and TV, it swallowed everything a bright expansive sheen of colour that lit up the once dark room of monotone colour into a bright room with different colours spread all over the walls and floor. As the impending doom to slumber approached the bed, one of the three figures situated on said bed began to succumb to the morning.

Moaning in discomfort was something that Pikachu was very used to at this point. Even after spending 8 years in total with Ash, the usually energetic Pokémon just couldn't get used to the teens sleeping schedule and so he would always wake up feeling disorientated and tired. Feeling his time had come, Pikachu began to allow his body to let his head rise as it began to feast on his surroundings.

Smallish room, clothes thrown about all over the floor, and plates left by the bedside table with soft snoring accompanying the interior and for a second Pikachu swore that he was in Ash's room. However, if he was correct Ash was never really one to wear short-shorts or dresses or... bras. Shaking his head to clear his mind of sleep, he soon realised that he was in May's room.

Oh yea… Ash went somewhere last night.

After the group had returned to the hotel after Ash's little anger outage at the beach, he just walked off after putting his bag in his room. He just walked out of the Pokémon Centre and no-one saw him for the rest of the night; Hell, he didn't even tell anyone where he was going! Subconsciously, the mouse Pokémon's cheeks began to spark lightly. Oh, he was just gonna leave him here? While he went out on some magical adventure… Probably met a Legendary or something while he was away.

And then the previous night hit him like a ton of bricks.

Whipping his head around, he saw that he was resting on the edge of the bed and underneath the covers at the other end were two figure covered by the blanket. One of them was May, or at least he hoped it was May, because it was quite easy to tell the silhouette of a woman under the sheets and the other was a small baby Pokémon whose antenna glowed a deep crimson under the cloth.

Manaphy.

A giddy smile crossed Pikachu's face as he looked over to the table beside the Prince of the Sea to see a small note with scribbles for handwriting that left him chuckling quietly; 5 years and he still couldn't write with properly legibility, no matter how many times he wrote a letter using the Pidgey services. Curling back up onto the bed as he waited for the other two occupants of the room to wake, he began to think back to last night.

It was kind of hazy but he could distinctly remember Ash coming back to this room at around 4 o'clock in the morning to give his partner Manaphy. How he got the Pokémon, Pikachu had no idea but he was probably too tired to ask and Ash seemed to be in a kind of a rush so he didn't really question it. Another thing that he could remember was the fact that he had smelled alcohol on Ash's breath. Now, the small Pokémon knew fist hand how much alcohol it took to get Ash drunk (he was there the first time it ever happened after all) so he knew that the amount of alcohol that he smelt on Ash's breath wasn't enough to get the boy drunk but even still, it worried him. Why was Ash drinking in the first place? The only previous times that he had gone out of his way to obtain alcohol was to forget something, or to get over his relapsing grief and if he was drinking now… what was going on?

In fact, now that Pikachu thought about it Ash seemed really off yesterday. Ever since he came down those stairs that morning, he seemed on edge, paranoid; he looked like he was watching out for something… or someone. The yellow Pokémon could also recall hearing May talk to the others that morning about the way Ash woke up. It was from nightmare. And then, later on at the shopping centre after he came back from his Champion trip with Cynthia he was even worse. His face was set in stone most of the time and the few times that he did smile just seemed void of that signature Ketchum-spark and they appeared hollow and almost emotionless.

Something happened yesterday to do with his friend… And he was going to find out what it was.

Once again, sparks and lightning coursed through his small body as he thought about the possibilities that his partner was in danger which made the air crackle and growl in anger. However, that stopped as he felt the shifting of cloth under his form. Snapping his head up and looking towards the top of the bed with wide black eyes. May was beginning to wake up. Smiling, Pikachu hopped off the bed and went to rest on the table that sat under the TV as he just watched the scene play out.

Feeling the sunlight hit her face, May began to stir and moan. It was too damn earlier for this. She had gone to sleep late worrying about Ash, much like the rest of the girls, and all she wanted to do was just sleep in. Turning over, she pushed the sheets up to her face as she tried to just fall back into her slumber with her head buried in them.

However, her eyes shot open in shock as she felt a small tug on the end of her duvet.

Sitting up in slight shock at the ordeal, she soon began to calm down at the thought that it was just Pikachu. But when she opened her cerulean orbs properly, she noticed that Pikachu was sitting in front of her… but he was positioned at the other side of the room. In her mind, she began to play the scenario in her head.

Pikachu may have been fast but even she knew that he was a late sleeper like her and neither of them had had breakfast yet so he would be out of energy and even if he was full of energy and spunk, why would he yank of her blanket? To wake her up? No, Pikachu understood the concept of a good night's rest and wouldn't dare interrupt someone's well-earned rest. But then if it wasn't Pikachu then maybe it was one of her Pokémon who had gotten out of her Pokeball… One quick look over to her bag, which her belt had haphazardly fallen onto denoted this idea immediately as all 6 of her Pokémon were accounted for. So, if it wasn't Ash's partner or one of her own companions, then who was it?

Twisting her head slowly, May found her eyes drawn to the shape of a small figure under a large mass of cloth. It was too small to be any of her Pokémon, definitely; Hell it was even smaller then Pikachu! That wasn't what her attention drew itself to however. Mainly, it was the bright red glow that was being emitted from the top of the figure. It felt… warm, familiar, caring and comforting like the hugs that she often received from her family but she couldn't put a finger on where it was from.

Deciding to take the plunge, the brunette began to reach forward for the cover. When her fingertips brushed against the cloth, she felt the figure below shift and move slightly and she could swear that it moved into her coming hand. Shaking those thoughts out of her head, she quickly threw the cover off of the bed entirely, exposing herself in her green and black pyjamas and the figure beside her.

And in that single second her breath was taken away.

Lying beside her, eyes wide and staring into her own was none other than the Prince of the Sea, the Pokémon that she had bonded so closely to all those years ago, the Pokémon that saw her as a mother… Manaphy was… here.

Frozen in shock and awe, the two just stared at each other as tears began to build in both of their eyes. After a few seconds, May reached out to her 'son' just to know that this was a dream. And when her thumb found his cheek, the floodgates began to go. Reaching down, the girl pulled Manaphy flush against her body as it too began to embrace her with his own tears. Joy and happiness leaked out of both their eyes as the small blue Pokémon began to mumble in happiness.

"Mama! Mama! Mama!"

"Y-Yes Manaphy, M-Mama's here." May found it in herself to spit out, still trying to hold onto the Pokémon for dear life as the two just embraced one another, reunited after so long with tears still flowing free down their cheeks and soaking the bed below but neither cared. 'Mother' and 'son' were finally together again after their separation long ago and they would have happily stayed there for hours.

If a certain yellow mouse didn't feel left out.

"Pika!"

With a gleeful yell, Pikachu leapt at the duo and managed to snuggle his way into a three-way hug which made all three parties let out loud chuckles at the Pokémon's actions. Leaning back gave May time to just admire what she had in her hands… Manaphy and Pikachu, two of the most important Pokémon, outside her own team of course, in her whole life. But as the tears of joy finally began to run dry and warmth just flowed throughout her body, May began to wonder.

How did Manaphy get here?

As if one que, Pikachu skipped out of the hug and waddled over to the bed side table only to come back with a small note and a large smile that was just as infectious as it was cute. With a grin forming on her own face, May picked up the note as she leant back against the head board of the bed, letting Manaphy rest on her lap and Pikachu crawl up to rest on her head. Looking down, her smile only grew as she could tell the scribbly, screwy handwriting on the page anywhere but she could still read it and it just made her heart sing.

 _Uh… Hi May._

 _Now, if this all went to plan, then you should be cuddled up with a certain Sea Prince right about now. Well, hopefully you are, if you read this before actually looking around then it would just spoil the surprise._

 _Anyway, while I was… 'out' yesterday, this little guy found me on the beach after I met up with… you know what, I'll tell you about that later. But yeah, he came back to us… all the way from Hoenn. It's just… So…_

 _I'm gonna try and end it here in case I start crying again but know that today will be different then yesterday; I have got some problems going on and I don't mind if you tell the others but just know that I love you all with my everything. I want you to know that, always know that, okay? But yeah, I have some pretty big… problems that have arisen in recent days but I won't let that bring me down, I still have all of you after all…_

 _God I love you all so much._

 _But I'm going to the Tournament for my match straight after training so I'll meet you there, okay?_

 _Love you all,_

 _Ash_

Taking a deep breath, May just smiled as she looked at the note. She could tell that he was having problems but like always, he just thought that it was too much of a burden or something to tell others but she knew that every single one of the girls that loves him will help him through this, no matter what. Feeling a small tug on her shirt, May turned her head down to see Manaphy staring at her with wide eyes.

"Papa?"

"Yes Manaphy, Papa is still here… And we all love him very much."

* * *

Pulling his hood over his head, Ash continued to make his way towards the arena.

It was a few hours after his impromptu training session after choosing his team for the next match up he had begun to make his way over to the tournament a bit early. However, he hadn't been anywhere the near the thing since his last match and he hadn't really expected the resistant that he may have arrived in the form of… the press. Or fans… Or fans in the press.

Not that he didn't appreciate and not that he was taking it for granted; he still stopped and talked to people who walked up to him or did interviews with nice enough reporters who didn't have the idea that stuffing a camera into his face would be a good idea. It was all just so suffocating! So, for the meantime he just tried to power through by pulling up his hood over his cap and just hoped that no-one noticed him.

As he continued to walk, his mind began to do the same. His brain began to ponder about a few topics, such as what would he do to those who still thought that he hated them. He needed to confront them again after what happened with Gary at the bar and he needed to do it quick. At first, he decided to do it after the battle but then he remembered his promise that he made yesterday; he needed to spend more time with the girls and with Pikachu after the way that their beach day had turned out. Sighing, he continued his charge onto the stadium.

While he walked, he started to feel this… thing. As people began to move past him, he began to feel this sort of burning sensation, the phantom fire spreading under his skin and making him feel agitated. Glancing down at his mark, he noticed it glowing a faint dark blue with a steady stream of aura slowly making its way up his body that was invisible to everyone else. What the Hell was going on? As he was looking at it, his eyes made their way down to his wrist and he couldn't help but grin as he saw the new etching that was scratched into his skin.

"Manaphy." He just couldn't help but let the word slip out his mouth as he slowed down a small amount. The small Pokémon had come back to them after 7 years… 7 long years of isolation away from those that the Prince called 'parents.' But now he was back, he was back with him and he was back with May. Smiling even wider, he remembered that he had left Pikachu with the job of taking Manaphy to a good place in May's room so that she would see it when she woke and he had complete faith in his friend… Almost complete faith.

Hearing the tell-tale sounds of doors mechanically gliding open, Ash could tell that he was already at the stadium. Glancing up, he wordlessly followed a path that he had taken a few times all the while dodging and weaving around a few free standing patrons. After finally making it to the entrance to the locker room, he simply turned to the 'bouncer' standing out the front door and pulled down his hood but he also pulled up his sleeve and let it glow with aura. The guy clearly got the message as he just let Ash in no problem at all.

Wandering into the room, Ash decided to familiarise himself with what was going on cause after the last few days that had been filled with chaos that would cause the largest cup to overflow. He was about to take place in a Three Vs Three match with another member to determine which one of them would make it into the top 8 where the matches would then turn into Six Vs Six matches. Smirking, Ash just waltzed over to a bench and sat down seeing as he had about a half hour before his match started.

Letting his head collide with the lockers behind him, the Aura user's eyes flew shut as he tried to catch up on at least some amount of sleep. Achieving this was pretty difficult however, because of swirling whirl-pool that was the stadium. Through his aura, he could hear the streams and streams of hundreds maybe thousands of people as they all lined up to get a seat to see the upcoming matches for the day with Ash's being the very first. Shouts and cries of joy and happiness filled his ears along with the cries of Pokémon as blips and dots of every lifeform in the building tapped into his mind and forced to him to see their joy.

After a while, he sorts of just lost himself in the feeling.

"Ash… Ash… ASH!"

Snapping his eyes open and letting his sclera shift to darkness for a minute, Ash slowly began to look for the person that disturbed his sleep. He didn't have to look very far because sitting infront of him was the rag-tag group that made up his friends at the tournament; Carrie, Selina, Tino, Quincy, Abel and Allie.

"Oh… uh hey guys." He shakenly asked, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Nice to see you too, Ketchum." Quincy smirked at him, reaching forward to give the Guardian a slap on the shoulder.

"So what's up." Ash then asked, turning to the group as they all just sort of looked at him strange. After a few seconds, it all just sort of clicked. "I'm up now aren't I?"

"Yea."

"Pretty much."

"Good luck, Ash."

"Knock 'em dead. Wait, don't do that."

Chuckling, Ash launched himself off of the bench and began to make his way over to the pitch entrance, saying goodbye to his friends as he went before he felt the roar of the stadium hit his body like a train. Adrenaline flowed through his body and his body just sucked it all up like his life depended on it. Breathing in deeply, the raven haired teen smiled wide before he let the bright lights of the outside take him.

This was gonna be one fun ride from here on out.

Fate, however, had different plans.

* * *

 **Yay! Chapter done. Now, next chapter I will have Ash go up against an OC so... I'll have a look through them and send whoever I hope to have Ash fight a PM. Also, remember that you can PM me at anytime to give me ideas or even just chat and stuff; I don't really care. So lets see if this schedule holds then and I will see you all in 2 weeks time! Ha... ha... we can only hope and pray.**

 **-Jack**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hello everybody and welcome back to Life Is!**

 **YES I ACTUALLY STUCK TO THE SCHEDULE (which has changed since then but this time slot ha stayed they same) FOR ONCE! I am actually really proud of myself.**

 **Anyway, I am actually writing this from Spain... On holiday so this will be a shorter one unfortunately so I hope you forgive me for that but it is sort of harder for me to access reviews and to concentrate so I do apologise again.**

 **On the other hand, have you guys seen all of that Pokemon Sun and Moon news!? This is definitely gonna be my favourite regions ever... I am just so excited. If anyone wants to know my team I'm going with...**

 **Decidueye (Grass/Ghost) - I've been sticking with this guy from the very start when I was in my Graphics class at 2:00 in February with my mates when Rowlet was announced and I knew that he was the one for me. And then Dartrix came and I fell in love with it more... And then this beast was announced and it became a GRAS/GHOST! OH MY DAYS! Just love this little guy, might be my favourite starter or at least he's in my top 3.**

 **Oricorio (Baile) (Fire/Flying) - When these guys were first announced, I really liked Baile for, but due to me having Rowlet, who was also a Flying type, I didn't pick it up but now that it is a Grass/Ghost I can bag me a Flying and a Fire in one so I'm happy.**

 **Wimpod (Water/Bug) - His evolution looks incredible from the leaks... That is all for now.**

 **Kommo-ò (Dragon/Fighting) - I've loved Jangmo-ò since the start and knew that it was gonna be a pseudo so when it was confirmed that it was gonna be a Fighting type, I knew that I needed it.**

 **Alolan Raichu (Electric/Psychic) - He is adorable and I love it and its ability is really good and it's type is really good and I'm going to shut up now.**

 **Alolan Muk (Poison/Dark) - LSD the Pokemon is the best Pokemon.**

 **Sorry if that was long winded but I needed to share my excitement with everyone about this game. If you're picking it up, who are you putting on your team? I'm just curious. Anyway, let's get on with this chapter.**

* * *

Loud sounds and bright lights smothered Ash's form.

Steadily walking through the hallway that crept ever closer to the main stadium, Ash thought back to every time that he had walked through this kind of scenario before. Screaming and shouting? Check. A thousand different shades of white from a thousand different spotlights? That and then some. The overwhelming fear and dread in his stomach that he wasn't good enough? Eh… Sort of. The rush of adrenaline that pushed through any negative emotions that may have come up? Hell yeah.

But one thing is for certain: Ash Ketchum would never get used to this feeling.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he made the last little stretch into the field to the applause of thousands. To be honest, he didn't really see why it had to be broadcast, why the league itself was a tournament. He had seen several that to become Champion, the challenger would have to fight every member of the Elite 4 in a one-on-one fight before fighting the Champion. And do you know what the best part was? It was all in an enclosed area with no shouting.

No that Ash hated the support, no way. If they wanted to support him or the opponent go right on-ahead but sometimes it just got to him. That this was all just some sort of ruse that psyched him up before a crushing defeat and that the cheering was the only thing that made him feel like he could maybe win against his opponent. He remembered when he was 10 all the way up to when he was 13, he loved the attention and the praise he got and always thought that the rush came from the crowd but as he grew, as he matured, he found out that the rush he got when battling was never because of the crowd. It was just the experience of seeing his friends succeed. He didn't need no one to make him feel hyped apart from his team, not even his girls. They did help, though.

Damn them 5 years had made him antisocial.

Shaking his head, Ash let the cheering die down before turning to his opponent. In the background, he heard the referee talking but he had done this so many times that the rules were practically woven into his DNA and had been become bound to his blood flow. So much so that he was quietly recurring them while looking at his foe.

"This will be a-"

"3 vs 3 battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and-"

Looking his foe up and down, he noticed that he was quite different it he last guy who probably just bought his way into the tournament with breeded Pokemon that had been given no love. He looked like was a sort of street kid, but he did hold this air of power about him. The guy looked about 20 and stood at around 6'2 with fair skin. He had long white hair that reached all the way down to below his shoulder blades but the white mass want straight, it was wild and unruly, only being slightly continued at the front by an orange bandanna. But he also noticed something else, something glaringly obvious. Piercings. He had a lot of 'em: several on his ears and his nose followed by a few on his eyebrows for some reason. As for his outfit, it was a pretty simple orange and black sleeveless hoodie that matched his bandanna along with some baggy black shorts and orange trainers and black gloves.

"Travis Steels from Slateport City."

Smiling, Ash gave a quick nod to the man who challenged with a smirk and a nod of his own. Fishing a Pokeball out of their respective pockets, the two men threw out their Pokèmon.

"Go Steelix!" Travis shouted, his voice deep and scratchy. As the light surrounding the stadium vanished, a proud and powerful Steelix stood in its place, a smirk on its metallic face and a long roar shit out of its throat. Everyone in the stadium looked in with shock shredding their features while Ash looked none the wiser.

"Match him, Infernape." Ash then threw out his own ball, resulting in the same bright light to burst through the sky. When that died down, a smirking ape was left in its place. Next to the daunting steel snake, the fire monkey looked tiny, dwarfed by the beats massive structure. However, both Ash and his Pokémon smiled at the challenge, with Infernape gripping his fists tight until they caught aflame. Spinning on his heel, the monkey turned to his partner before the teen have him a nod.

Just before the match began, Ash scanned the stadium to see if he could find any sign of some familiar aura's. When he was walking in, he didn't see anyone and from his scan, he didn't see anyone either. Strange…

Suddenly, his eardrums exploded with life as the ref blew his whistle.

"Steelix use Iron **Iron Tail**!" With a strong amount of force behind such a heavy form, Steelix shot forward with a great amount of speed. It's tail started to flow a sickly white against the metallic grey, leaving a trail of light flowing behind him. Still, neither Ash or Infernape moved.

Just as Steelix was about to make contact, Ash spoke but it was just above a whisper.

"Infernape, **Counter**." His eyes shooting open, Infernape pushed the powerful blow away before trapping its tail under his right arm and wrapping it with his left, bending it to the right away from the rest of the body. As he pushed, Infernape kept his eyes narrowed onto the bit on rock that he was currently holding onto before he saw a small, literally chink in Steelix's armour. Smiling, Infernape leapt at the gap between the two boulders where the backbone was located before striking it with a powerful hit from his armoured knee which sent the powerful beast kneeling over in pain.

The shock didn't wear off fast enough for Travis as when he started to call out, Ash had already gotten halfway through.

"Infernape run up his body and then use **Mach Punch**." Springing forward, Infernape leapt off the downed beats and bounced up the long body with great amounts of speed until he reached the open maw of the steel creature. Rearing his fist back, Infernape began to quickly unleash several bursts of power and smashing force that reached and smashed at the mouth of Steelix. However, Travis was quick.

"Steelix **Crunch**!" With renewed vigor in its pained eyes, Steelix slammed its jaws down onto the Infernape that was still trapped inside. While he was calm on the outside, Ash was panicking inside. Using his aura, Ash checked to see Infernape curled up inside the mouth. Smiling, Ash yelled out.

"Infernape use **Close Combat**!" The eyes of Travis and Steelix went wide as Infernape began to shift and Ash saw the fists of Infernape start to flow and glow with energy before the Pokemon let out a roar and began to throw out his hands in a violet flail. Steel shook and scraped together as Steelix struggled to keep his jaws shut but the fire monkey was too strong. With one final powerful punch, Infernape smashed the front jaw up and leapt out. To Ash, the air appeared to still as him and Infernape locked eyes. Breathing in, Ash let out a fierce display of aura before he shouted out.

"INFERNAPE USE **ICE PUNCH** FOLLOWED UP BY **FIRE PUNCH**!" Falling to the floor, Infernape jumped up and struck the lower maw of the beast with a glowing, icy fist which froze and halted the movement of the appendage. With one final blow, Infernape let out a roar and smashed his right fiery knuckles into Steelix's cheeks which sent the beats to the floor in a sprawling head.

As the dust began to clear, all that was left in the centre of the field was the K.O'd form of asteroid and the smirking figure of a smoking Infernape. Looking over at Travis, Ash was surprised to see a smile on his face.

"Nice job training that Pokemon, Ketchum. Good job Steelix."

Repeating his smile with his own, Ash smiled at Infernape before Travis called out his next Pokemon.

"Go Magnezone!"

 _'This is gonna be fun.'_

* * *

The sounds of battles and sparks rang throughout the small room, reverberating off the deserted cups and plates before halting at the sight of discarded clothes. Cracklings from the TV continued to ring true as a figure emerged from a room of to the right of the living quarters.

Hastily stepping over the fallen forms of cups and clothes, the woman shakily placed her hands over her heart as she looked down at the battle that was currently being displayed on the screen. Ash Ketchum vs Travis Steels… Ash was winning 1 to 0 and he was about to begin his thrashing on the opponents Magnezone. As the woman watched, she couldn't help but think of how far he had come.

Delia couldn't have stopped that feeling if she tried.

A ghost of a smile crossed the mother's face as she examined herself in the mirror at the other end of the room. She looked… Presentable at least. Her hair was sort of a mess and her clothing had a few stains but they could all be put on her clumsiness. As she looked at herself, a thought crossed her mind.

Should she be doing this?

Should she really go out to see him after what happened?

Should she…

Shaking her head, Delia tried to remain confident. She needed to see him after not seeing him for so damn long; she was failing as a mother and she needed to be there for her child. Pulling her cardigan down a tad and after trying to fix up her hair for a few minutes, she too gave up. Dropping her eyes down to the desk, she saw a bottle, a very important bottle.

Pills.

Breathing in, the brunette pocketed two pills into her hands and dropped them into her mouth.

"Can't let him know why…" She began chanting to herself, as if to make sure she knew what she was doing. Then, with a shaky step…

Delia Ketchum left for the stadium.

* * *

"Infernape finish this off with **Overheat**!"

"Scizor use **Bug Buzz**!"

The two attacks clashed and lead to a large explosion of reds and greens that lit the stadium up like Christmas. Fire lapped at steel and concrete as it just consumed the much smaller Scizor, who was just swallowed by a wall of flames. Silence just filled the air as the two contestants waited for the outcome.

As the fire cleared, Infernape stood victorious over the form of a K.O'd Scizor to the cheer and shouts of the crowd. Smirking, Ash walked forwards to the ring towards the approaching Travis and frozen Infernape. Glancing the monkey's form, he noticed that it was littered with several cuts and bruises from the rather powerful steel types. Picking up the pace, Ash managed to catch the beast before he collapsed. Locking eyes, the teen gave his friend a nod of gratitude before returning him to his ball.

Smiling, Ash looked up to see Travis returning his Scizor with a smirk. Standing up, the raven haired boy sauntered over to the man, taking his hand into his own.

"Nice battle, Steels, train a little harder and maybe teach some combo moves and you'll have some seriously strong fighters on the ropes." Ash said as the ref trailed on in the background.

"Hehe, I don't know about that Ketchum. But hey, it might work so thanks for the advice."

The two made more small talk before twisting in their heels and walking down to the corridors on each end. Distantly, Ash heard that the next match us was between Abel and some guy. With the heavy sounds of his heels of the floor, Ash took this time to think about what has been going in recently. However, that was stopped when he saw a very familiar figure at the end of the runway.

"So… We're doing this here then?" Ash muttered to himself as his eyes narrowed subconsciously at the woman at the end of the corridor.

"Hey Mom… How you been?"

* * *

 **Oooh! Confrontation! Anyway, thanks for reading. Next chap should see Ash and Delia talking it out... Civilly... Yea, civilly. So, thanks for reading. See ya!**

 **-Jack**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello everybody and welcome back.**

 **So the schedule thing... eh, 1 day late. Anyways, cause of school and my up-coming pre-public exams I will be moving the chapter updates to... Friday. Yep, just one day. With me moving it Friday instead of Thursday, I notice that I have a lot more time to write without feeling burdened by guilt or shame of not doing homework and I can solely focus on this so... Yay? i guess.**

 **I just want to quickly thank you all for 600 followers on the dot when I am writing this so thank you all so much for following and favouriting or even just reading without doing that; it truely does mean alot so once again, thank you... Again.**

 **Now, I will just warn you that this chapter gets sort of heavy handed. Not like chapter 11 heavy handed, but just heavy handed. So, proceed with caution.**

 **Quickly though, some reviews.**

 **TiredOfCannon: That will be explored later on but for now, just keep it there. Maybe it was just Ash's mind changing to fit with his new found over-protectiveness due to his Aura or it could be mind tricks or it could be something else... Who knows... Well I know.**

 **Animaman: Maybe, I dunno yet.**

 **UnsanMusho: Nope, they don't know about that.**

 **Burgenator: Call it... instinct. I guess... Or just call it foreshadowing.**

 **Nick: 1. I like the misleading nature of the 'little plot' that is then dragged deeper in a way that I haven't really seen others do before but hey, that is just my way of looking at it as an author.**

 **2\. The Island is very south of Kalos and that is about it as for current locations.**

 **3\. I said this in chapter 2 but it takes place 5 years after the Kalos League where Ash would have been 13 if he actually agd properly so it is set 5 years from that.**

 **4\. Like the previous point, the ages were all pointed out or at least the important ones were. But just to cover it Ash is 18 along with most of the rivals and most of his harem group who are around 17-19 but there are a few exceptions in these groups who are younger like Bonnie and Max.**

 **5\. The ones that they had on their teams originally but fully evolved unless stated like Bunneary.**

 **Now, I will just warn you that this chapter gets sort of heavy handed. Not like chapter 11 heavy handed, but just heavy handed. So, proceed with caution.**

 **Anyway, onto Chapter 21! Enjoy.**

* * *

The air was thick and tense.

Droves of people were screaming and cheering around their forms but the Mother-Son duo couldn't care less; to them it was practically silent. To them, the only sounds were the clashing of cartilage as the raven haired teeth smashed and ground his teeth together in a grinding motion while his hands curled painfully in on themselves until he felt his nails begin to pierce his gloves. Delia wasn't any better, either. Her gaze was far away and her eyes were glazed over with glassy intentions, not meeting Ash's own narrowed pair of eyes; whether she was doing this on purpose or not… the teen didn't really know. With low, baited breath, Ash spoke out.

"So… what do you want?"

His voice took and unnatural and icy edge to it that he didn't mean to add intentionally but judging by the look on the older woman's face, it made his point very clear to her withered figure. Her frame seemed visibly shook and shaken and her feet danced around each other in a tiny tango at her ankles as she appeared to be making her mind up about what to say.

"Hello Ash. H-How have you been?" A shaky smile, just as clumsy as the rest of her body, fell on her face but her eyes stayed the same with the brown becoming lost into the black edges like a monotone stain glass piece. At one time, Ash may have said that looking into those eyes filled him with joy such as only a few days before hand. But now… the veteran could only see longing and despair when he stared at those lost, chocolate orbs.

They were so much like his own; even now.

Letting out a scoff, Ash moved to lean up against the wall. However, in the corner of his eye, he watched as the woman's frame tensed up at his movement. It was almost as if she was expecting him to… lunge out at her. Now, while Ash may have been furious, outraged, feelings of betrayal floating around in his mind like a game of Pong, he had the decency and the amount of honour left in his being to never hit his own mother. Whether she was lying about it all, it didn't change the fact that she raised him… better than that. She raised him to be respectful and nice… She was always there for him. Looking down, Ash started off his sentence.

"Good. Good, Mom. I've been good… How about you?"

Glancing back up to her general direction, he saw the tension that shook her body like lightning snake its way up and around her spine until it finally reached her eyes where they became wide and lively while the rest of her body just sort of… slumped over. There was something off about this; the tension around him even after knowing that he would never do something like this, her glassy look, her strange dependency of pills all of a sudden. It was just too much strangeness that never came packaged along with his mother's loving and caring attitude. Then again, this attitude of hers may have just been some sort of shitty cover-up to stop him from finding out about Ash's father.

He chuckled under his breath. Great, now he had two different viewpoints in his head again.

"I-I'm fine baby, just fine. I-I watched your battle, you did great against that… that…" Delia seemed lazy, sluggish in her movements and tone as if there was something completely wrong and twisted with her. And her choice of language; Ash knew that his mother always watched his battles but the way she said it as if it was some sort of critique on a single moment and not as the battle as a whole (such as she did all those years ago) just put him off. Shifting uncomfortably in his place at these thoughts, Delia seemed to notice.

"A-Ash what's the matt- Ah!" Stumbling forward with a clumsy wobble, the older woman almost fell flat onto the hard, marble flooring of the locker rooms or worse, she could have hit her head clean off the side of a bench located near the entrance. On instinct and without much actual input, Ash shot forward to stop the woman from hurting herself.

However, as he grabbed the bare flesh of her shoulder, his arms flared up in… something. It was painfully, while at the same time it felt off-putting and uncomfortable; basically, it felt a more intense version of pins and needles that stabbed and daggered at his arms skin. Sinking his teeth into his tongue to stop himself from letting out a wince at the sudden shock, Ash slowly pushed through it and placed Delia down on the bench with her back to the lockers.

Like his fallen relative, Ash slightly stumbled back to see his mark bathed in a dark bluish-red tone that coated his entire form as well as the room in similarly coloured light. This… pins and needles effect was strongest around the marking; it felt like the 'pins' were prepping him for some sort of surgery and the 'needles' were sinking into his flesh to sedate him. Recovering quickly, Ash returned to his place at the wall.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concern clearly there as he broke his mask for a second. And not 2 seconds later did he get a response.

"M-Me? Hahaha… That's f-funny Ash… Trust me, I'm f-fine. Just getting o-old is all." She gave him a smile but… it was those eyes! They couldn't fool him anymore! She wasn't Delia as long as those windows clogged up her visions. Bawling his hands into fists to try and contain his rage, he began to walk away to try and vent but before he could, he felt something hit his toes before bumping and rolling away under his feet.

And standing there at his ankles… was a fresh bottle of pills.

Recently opened by the ripped covering at the top of the neck and the loose lid that had already fallen off and the fact that a total of 0 pills had come flying out of the tiny bottle. When he had been to Delia's room that morning, he had seen many of these similar bottles but he had seen one that was at least half full… And it looked like it could last you a month and a half just based on that. So to see this freshly opened, already empty bottle of pills… it scared him. Distantly, he heard her quiet voice telling him to ignore it but even her tone told him that she knew that he knew about this.

Bending down in silence, the roars of the crowd continuing in the background, Ash picked up the container and against his mother's wishes, began to read its properties out.

"Prescription based Anxiety Pills. Assigned by Dr. Basker to Ms Delia Ketchum for medicinal properties and relieving her ever growing anxiety. Contains approximately 90 pills, only consume up to 3 in one day and that is to only be done at allotted times set by your Dr. For this patient, these times have been listed at; 09:00, 14:00 and 20:00. You must not consume more than 3 a day as they will weaken the drugs effect on your body and your anxiety will not be helped. If you need any more concerns, see Dr. Basker for more details."

Gripping the bottle tightly, so tightly that he felt the plastic break and crack under the pressure, he turned back to see Delia staring at him with a shattered and distraught look on her face. Well, at least the windows were gone.

"How long?" It was a simple question. It required a simple answer.

"A-Ash, listen baby, I- "

"How. Long." This time, it was far harsher. All was quiet for a few moments before she spoke up.

"6 months after you left." She replied quietly and Ash let out a sigh. Of course it was him… It was always him that fucked everything up.

"Okay… and how many of these pills have you been taking in a single day?" He felt like an interrogator going in on his test subject but he needed to do this, to know what the fuck happened when he was gone.

"3… Like it says on the bottle." Delia's tone was shaky and nervous and Ash didn't even need to look to know that she was lying.

"Yes. The bottle does say that. But that wouldn't explain why you have around 5 months' worth of pills stuck in that damn room of your when you've been here for little under a fucking week! Now tell me, how many of these pills have you been taking a day!?" Ash's tone was like icy dagger by now and as they cut into Delia's body, it felt like a tiny piece of her was dying.

"…" She remained quiet. Angrily huffing, Ash turned on his Aura to look to see if anything was affecting it. And what do you know…

"Why the Hell do you have 5 doses in your system…" It was a quiet question, perhaps the quietest that the room had been that whole day. But it made its point.

"T-They really do help in bigger portions… I feel far more relaxed and less anxious when I take more than 3 of them. To be honest, I don't really understand why the Doctor only set the maximum amount to 3 pe- "

She didn't get to finish before Ash's fish collided against a group of lockers to the far side of her with a sickening thud and a crack of scrapping steel. Strips of red aura bathed him in radiance and rolled out into the skies as he tried to hide his eyes behind his cap. Once again, the air went dead.

"No they don't, Mom. It specifically says not to take more than 3… SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DISOBEYING THOSE ORDERS?! FOR FUCKS SAKE, YOU ENDANGERING YOUR OWN LIFE HER AND YOU ARE THROWING THAT AWAY FOR WHAT?! REALLY, WHY?!" Ash's tone started off slow and breathy but it soon erupted into just anger and agony that ripped apart his throat as Delia just sat staring with wide eyes.

"THIS IS NOT HELPING YOU! YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOU! NOTHING YOU ARE DOING IS HELPING YOU! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?! YOU'RE BECOMING LIKE SOME DRUG OBSESSED PERSON WHO CAN'T EVEN LIVE WITHOUT THEM, YOU KNOW THAT!? AN ADDICT! AND ALL I HAVE TO ASK IS WHY!" Storming over, Ash once again saw her tense but this took more president. Crouching down in front of her, his angry face still remained with his inky sclera's and red iris' burning but his tone became softer.

"W-Why… Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"…" Silence.

Gritting his teeth further in anger, Ash turned back on his heels.

"FUCK!" Kicking the floor, he watched as small chunks of marble flew off into another set of lockers.

And then the killing blow.

"Dad was right… you're just lying about everything." It was almost like she locked up like a machine without power, the tears that threatened to flow just stopped being produced and her shaking ground to a halt.

"And when I ask what's wrong, you just don't tell me… I want to help you Mom… But all of this is just tearing us apart; the lies, the dependence on drugs, the isolation… Please just let me in."

Tense and silent.

"You wouldn't understand." Turning on his heels, Ash ground his teeth again as he stared at the woman, her voice void of anything. "You don't know anything about the situation… Nothing Ash, nothing."

Sighing, Ash let his Aura dissipate before he slowly strolled over to his hunched over mother.

"Mom… you need help. And you need it now." She appeared to take this information in but didn't seem to want to answer again.

"Being here, with all this noise and the people isn't helping you at all. And that is just increasing your need for these pills, Hell with how many you have been taking it's a miracle that you haven't overdosed. But I'm being serious, you need help. This Dr. Basker person, how often do you see him? He's your assigned Doctor right, maybe he can help you. Hell, even Professor Oak could probably help you talk it out and help you understand all of this. And then all the lying and all the pain and all the isolation goes away."

Reaching up, he gently pulled her shoulder so they could face each other.

"I may hate what you have been doing, what you have been doing to yourself and others, and I may even hate you as a person right now but no matter what you are still my mother. My mother that saw me off on every journey that I have ever been on, my mother that helped me over come so much, my mother that did everything in her power to raise me the right way… Even it was morally shady. You will always be my mother and for that I will always love you."

Leaning back, Ash stood up and looked towards the exit to the main entrance of the stadium.

"Look, I'm going to take you back and I will book a flight for you back to Pallet Town. I'll call up Professor Oak and I will have him be ready for you when you get there. I'll explain the situation to him and he will help you or at least offer you support while you get help, okay?"

She nodded.

"Okay… Now let's get you back to your room. You looked shattered."

Delia didn't at all protest as Ash loaded her onto his back before sprinting off in a blaze of dazzling blue light. And after her 5th wink, she was back in her room, in her bed, wrapped up in the covers while Ash stood at her doorway. It took her a minute to reconfigure herself, but she did it.

"Alright then… Get some rest while I go and do the arrangements, okay? I'll try and get a flight within the next 2-3 days so you can spend some time with the girls… if you like." Taking the door handle into his grasp, he began to shut it but before it could close fully, his gaze shifted to meet hers once more.

"Get well soon… Mom."

And then he was gone and Delia was left all up to her own devices. She didn't really know for how long she stayed there or anything like that but when she finally came round, she knew that she could only squeak out one thing.

"You just don't understand…"

* * *

 **Whoo. that was a doozy to write. In my head, this was going to be a far more aggressive confrontation but nope, my head now want feels instead so here you go. Next chapter... I dunno, Ash talks to the girls about some stuff and Legends and things. Eh, I'll figure it out. Anyway, thank you for reading and goodbye!**

 **-Jack**


	22. Chapter 22

**I am not dead.**

 **7 fucking months... H-How are you all doing?**

 **Anyway, welcome back to the long awaited 22nd chapter... That has taken over a year to write because writers block is a biiiitch. If you've been lost in the vast ravines of time and have forgotten who I am, I am Jack... Or Aniimeziing, call me anything you like because i deserve it. But we're here now, we're here with a chapter that may seem weird and out of place or you may have completely forgotten the story which I cannot blame you for at all.**

 **So, why such a long wait? Well there are several things: 1. Writers block. This has been a big issue with all my stories for a long time as now I have about 5 that I need to update and upload on so my ideas get jumbled and my mind wanders to bigger parts which leads to chapters like this where big reveals are not really happening or where big battles aren't happening quite difficult'; in fact, I've had the ending and the big reveals in this story planned since nearly the very start but getting to the point where I can actually reveal them and make the meaningful has been and will be difficult.**

 **Reason 2.** **School 'N Shit. Over the past 6 months, I have had not only a large block of time for a set of mock exams in March (they started on my birthday and I wanted to die that week) which completely drained me, I also had the biggest and most important exams of my whole life shortly after that for a bit over a month so all my brain power was put into that , into studying and learning knowledge and stuff so that I could actually pass to the point where y imagination and creative drive took a nose dive and I could barely write anything. In fact, I wrote 1 thing in that time frame and even that took me about ages to complete. But now I have like 3 months off for Summer and I have finished at that school so... YEEEEESSSS!**

 **And reason 3. Video Games... This one I have very little excuse for except that I got seriously hooked on video games the past few weeks with my new free time and I've literally just been playing those. Like I finally played Persona 5... And I just love it, favourite game of all time, hands down... Like I cried for a straight hour during the epilogue and cried throughout the game itself cause I love it so much... And I'm also playing Final Fantasy XV right now, thats good too... SO yea, video games! I am so sorry...**

 **But now I'm back! And you all get a much longer chapter then you're used to cause I'm a piece of shit! Woop woop!**

 **And can I just say... 700 followers and 200k views? W-What? Just... Huh? I do not deserve that so just... Thank you. Thank you for making me feel welcomed and making me feel happy for writing and coming back because I do this all for you guys and to see you all so happy and so willing for this story to come back is the main draw so just... thank you.**

 **Now then, reviews! (I've wanted to say that on this story for so, SO long!)**

 **Poke-Jedi Master Stotler: Nope, I'm just reaaaal lazy and I will not abandon stories without massive amounts of thought, just know that if there are massive breaks then something important is happening or I'm just doing other stuff; I will always post another chapter of something and I will finish all my stories at some point. Even if it takes literal years.**

 **Guest: Where are the Lemons... Guess I didn't guy any. But seriously, I wanted to build up to the Lemons to make sure that it felt natural, that there is meaning behind the sex and its not just sex for being sex, that it has some narrative reason and build up. That's why its taken so long.**

 **Guest: There are a lot of moments where people fuck up... Like every moment that I haven't been uploading for the past 7 months.**

 **IDotPart1: You know when I read this comment I burst out laughing... Then I cried for 5 days to my friends about how worthless I am. But seriously, thanks for the support.**

 **HestiaIsBestia267: I agree with this username. And thank you but it is not good enough for that many 'updates.'... Its worth like one at most.**

 **Phoenix: I do have a twisted mind indeed. I like darkness in stories that usual have a lot of light to show off the pain that everyone, even people in childish anime or cartoons can have if you pair them with that scenario. And about your OC and OC's in general, I can add him but I cannot give him that backstory with good conscience. I'm happy that you have built a character around the scenarios in my story but you've just made him far too srong, far too powerful and far too broken for this kind of story' yes it is not grounded heavily in reality but being the son of Legendary is sort of crossing the line. And I don't think having someones OC as another Aura Guardian would be very good for reasons evident in this chapter. I'm happy to implement your OC, just not to the degree you've given me, I'm really sorry. I just don't think I can write that with any logic or reason and while it may sound selfish, it may outshine my own characters and plot if I include someone as strong as that. So yea, I'll also be limiting the amount of OC's I use because I honestly only have a clue of like 2 of the OC's people have given me and who they actually are with character beats and how they act so its difficult for me to track and stuff so if there is a good OC with enough development and is grounded enough in reality with character and personality then i will add then. For anyone that has previously sent in an OC please review or PM me and tell me how yours acts and what kind of mannerisms they conduct and do so I can make the story better and so I can respect your characters. but seriously Phoenix, thank you for the support and everything that you have said, it really helps.**

 **MrMeow13: 13 is the best and luckiest number... And ask and you shall receive, if 7 months late... Heheh**

 **RedSatoshiKetchum: Ah yes, this review. While I appreciate the support and the joy towards my content, I will ask you to reframe from using the reviews to attack and go after other people. Yes they may do things that you disagree with or have things you don't like about them such as with King but please PM them and don't use me and my story as a middle man for you argument; I want my story to be a conversation starter on darker and lighter topics with those that read it, I want to bring joy and make people happy with my stories but things like this just hurt to see. King PM'd me and said you'd sort it out so I am thankful for that and if anyone wants to have a friendly conversation in the reviews with other people then i am more then happy to support that, even a debate about what certain things mean is good but just outright hate towards others is something I can't really tolerate. Like I said though, I'm happy you enjoy the story.**

 **TCLANP: Dammit, I thought I got away with it. Its just a cool way of describing Feraligator is all.**

 **Guest: Well... 'Irish'. I'm like a quater on my Dad's side and I know my way around Ireland so I'm sort of Irish but mostly English. Click-bate, I know. But thank you for the support!**

 **MeekaStoickZ: I'd say I'm a 'meh' writer, but thank you very much for the support. P.S I am currently writing a chapter of Slayer's Flame that should be out soon, it's like half-way done.**

 **Guest: LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD!**

 **POKMON-MASTR101: Hehe, I'm happy that I could make you feel that way, it's one of the main reasons i write to be honest.**

 **TheRealCacto: Yea, I really do understand that now and I have actually grown quite a lot since writing this chapter so I can see my mistakes so thank you for you input. For now, the Drugs Conflict and the Dad Conflict will stop for a short time while some other stuff happens but soon all the conflicts will come together and you'll understand why I put so many in. And on't worry, more girls in the future and I've actually learned how to write differing characters! Like personalities and stuff so they should be diverse enough now, I hope anyway.**

 **Verduga: Never had a girlfriend so I have never had to be put through that fortunately (or unfortunately however you look at it)... And I always run when my sister and Mom try to get me to go shopping so... Yay. God likes harems... Probably.**

 **MiguelGuiliano-Co: Gracias mi amigo, mucho gracias y estoy muy feliz de que te guste mi historia. (First time I used Spanish outside of school, well worth it)**

 **Nick: ALrighty Nick, here we go again. 1. Just watch the show, they get all their mons there and it'd take too long for me to just say it. 2. And depending on when Ash met them, like 6-8 years. 3. Read chapter 3 and then chapter 6 and you'll be good. 4. Training. 5. 5 years. You know all of these questions are answered in the story... Have you even read it? Just asking cause all the answers are there...**

 **Guest: Deep.**

 **ButterMan274: So do I... More butter on my bread indeed.**

 **Cobalt027: That would be funny... If i ever actually wrote the girls into the story...**

 **Te-Nellis: Drama. Drama. Drama? Drama. DRAMA!**

 **Yaw613: I have and thank you for the support.**

 **Lycoan Wolf Entity: Um... Yea things changed but he will be in it (Also please check RedSatoshiKetchums reviw response for my new response to OC's)**

 **MikeKromer: Sexy/Loving scenes will be coming, just need to build up more narrative plot and stuff.**

 **InfernoKing: Yea Delia is in a bad way... ANd we won't be seeing her for quite some time.**

 **UltimateCCC: Maybe it is, maybe that is a reason for concern... Or maybe its something else entirely.**

 **Guest: Sure, list will be at the end of the chapter.**

 **Fanfic Meister: Me to man... Me to.**

 **JBL2Apple: Yea shortness is something that I have tried to amend this chapter and it really isn't that good.**

 **MidnightScar17: Sad review.**

 **UsanMusho: DEPRESSING IS WHAT I DO BEEEEEEEEST!**

 **AnimaMan: I like showing the humanity in seemingly perfect characters, that flaws are required to create good characters even when they aren't obvious. And I might add Z Moves but I dunno, I'm still thinking about it. And yes, catch up times will be the focus of the next few chapters while stuff calms down.**

 **Espeon44: We got an extra 100 from doing nohting for 7 months... *sigh* I'm so sorry.**

 **NOW ONTO CHAPTER 22! LETS GO EVERYONE!**

* * *

Breathless, Ash sat suspended on the edge of the cliff.

Like the lost, wandering soul that he was, he let his eyes dart and cross the unrestrained, unshackled wilds of the ocean that sat before him; every now and again, a soft jet of foam would brush past his feet and soak his soles before dissipating back to its uneven world of water, leaving him alone once more. It was almost as if the water itself was trying to comfort him, offer small samples of its attention in bursts to try and awaken some semblance of liberty within the young Trainer's heart, hurt and damaged as it was. Even the rocky outcrop where he sat had been tainted by wet moisture, dampening the stone he sat upon in order to dull its edges for his body in its fragile state. However, it was all for naught.

Sucking on his tongue, the raven-haired teen leant forward, allowing the streams of azure to smack his face which, in turn, cooled and relieved him somewhat. From this position, he could see the ripples of fallen sky dot and mare the landscape that the liquid-mirror created, cracks and shifts of white breaking through the surface as a thin veil of holy, ethereal light penetrated and shattered the recklessness and instead transported it to a place of tranquillity. A setting sun could be seen bobbing and shifting above the waves, the tide pulling its appearance apart in strands as Ash just quietly sat and looked upon it: to see such a thing of power, of majesty be pulled apart by circumstance and ripped apart by the desires of others really struck accord within him- perhaps it was because he could understand its plight, perhaps it was because it perfectly mirrored the way he thought people would view him if the news of the last few days leaked and corrupted the shores of this island nation or maybe it was because he couldn't bear to part with the pieces and fragments of ethereal power that existed within him. Personally, he couldn't tell but all three carried bits of deserted past and broken future. And to think, Ash could be thinking all of this shit when he lived in a world inhabited by Pokémon.

Smirking, he bounced back up and lay his spine across the tiny ravines and canyons that existed beneath him, turning his face to the sharp and warm colour of a melting sky. It was nice, like some sort of caramel that, if he believed hard enough, could just drip and dribble into his mouth and take him far away from the trouble and agony that this island had put him through; however, if he did, he knew that he would also be sacrificing the endless bounds of happiness that this place had granted him too so he was stuck between a rock and a cloud at this point. Sighing, Ash let his mind wander once more, twisting and turning through the labyrinth that he had built for himself and think back to just a few hours ago, right after the tournament.

After dropping off his mom, the teen had just stood outside her door for a few minutes, letting everything climb up his frame and creep into his head before slipping to the floor, skull in his fingers as he kneaded and played it like a drum. Inside, his mind was going a thousand miles an hour, bouncing off the walls of his imagination, reinforced by his bones, like a jack-hammer as he just tried to… comprehend all that had happened. His mother had been lying to him, overtaking prescribed medication just to let the pain free her from its embrace, his father had been a perceived psychopath turned redeemer and all the while he had been neglecting and ruining the present of his mates, of his friends and family while he slowly succumbed to his madness. Truly, it was nothing short of maddening.

Then, he let his feet follow in the footsteps of his head: it ran free against the wind. He didn't know for how long he walked for, how far he walked for, how sore he was afterwards cause none of that mattered to his scarred features, all that mattered was running away. It was ironic really; a few nights ago, he had freely sprinted into the embrace of this competition as it allowed him to reconnect and love once more… But now he was trying to escape that, break free of a shitty illusion that had enslaved his mind to a view of a false fantasy. Maybe he deserved this; maybe, coming here was a mistake… No matter how many times these thoughts invaded his head, he couldn't help but justify himself by talking about them.

About Misty's temper and how he had missed it so dearly, how it had evaded his cold, frozen heart and forced him to feel the fires of her love for again and how he hadn't experienced enough of it since he got here. About May's bandaged love and comfort that seemed to leak out from her heart and head, sparkling all over the world that surrounded this dumb, stupid boy and how he wanted to stand in it for so much longer then he had been. About Dawn and her childish sense of freedom and liberty that always managed to free form his duties, acting as a key to his chains and a lock for his troubles and how he hadn't managed to let her embrace his form like that since he had gotten here. About Iris and how her wild nature allowed him to let ago and remember how to enjoy life, view it as a game that he needed to win and beat that smug little girl that he loved so much and how he hadn't been able to play it for a long time now. About Serena and how her professionalism and charm lied in her traditionalism, how she played him like a fiddle whenever she was near without even meaning to and how he hadn't heard a song from her in quite a long time. About Aria, and Angie and Cynthia and how he had been apart from them for even longer, the borders of each region trapping him from their wanting embrace and how he dearly wished to hold them again. About… the other people who had snuck their way into his life, into his heart that he had yet to become reacquainted with, how he was beginning to think their parts would be forgotten in the crappy play that was his dramatic life.

Letting out a sigh, Ash began to chew and bite the rough skin at his lips as he continued to think about what happened after he and his mother departed. After contemplating life and the meaning of love, the raven-haired teen wandered about the island for quite some time, not stopping to rest or pause in his movements until he reached the stony shores of the beach. For a while, he just let his eyes walk all over the land as the distant shouts and bursts of noise erupted from the stadium (which he could still hear despite the distance between the two), completely immersing him in the fantasy land of the island once more. It was addictive, like a drug that was constantly bombarding his systems and mind, forcing it awake or forcing to relive happiness despite the pain it inflicted unto his physical form. Then, he had just sat down, watching silently for hours as the tide ripped and shifted before his eyes, moving the different Pokémon that drifted by in the skies or even the clouds themselves in a rhythmic pattern that rose and shrank with the soft, swish of the ocean.

And here he still sat, contemplating his life as it continuously tore itself apart and implanted seeds of regret, sadness and anger within himself. Running his hands up his prone form, Ash found his fingers running over the outfit that the girls had given him, how it fit him so perfectly and complemented his juxtaposing mind so well; every part of his body fit so well into the suit that he thought it may have been destined, but then the dark feelings that rose from his heart simultaneously were trapped within him so… He didn't really know how to feel. Then his hand trailed up to his shoulder where Pikachu would usually take his perch, take up his position as a guard or just a friend, which was now empty and vacant with a cold breeze. He needed to take him out more, in-fact he had barely interacted with him in the few days that they had been on this island. Then it was to his hat, hanging low on his brown so that it covered his shifting and fragmenting gaze from the self-destructive sea that stood before him. It was covering his face in much the same way that he remembered his mother doing before he left for any kind of adventure; she would take his hand and sit it on his head before plunging the end of the cap down so that his eyes could no longer be seen followed by bouts of laughter from the two of them… Laughter that he was surely going to miss in the following few weeks.

No.

Bouncing back up to a sitting position, he hung his arm over his knee as his mind warped and moved with curiosity and fire. No, he wasn't going to sit here any longer, welling in self-pity and self-loathing because of the actions he had committed up to this point in his life; no, he was going to rise above all that, he was going to go and live life to the fullest with the girls he loved, he was going to enjoy himself with his Pokémon, he was going to get help for his Mother so that she would never have to stop smiling again and his Father… would require a different approach but he would still try to get him to connect, to learn more about him and why he did what he did in excruciating detail if need be.

Smiling, Ash prepare to stand, to march on over to the stadium and rebuild the crashing skyscraper that was his life before he caught wind of something in his subconscious. His father… Was the only Aura Guardian on this island and he wore that mask that he had seen in his Aura Induced nightmare a few nights ago, where the Misty, May, Aria and Angie were… Defiled by someone matching his description and outlook on life but when he met back up with him, he seemed different so the question plaguing Ash's mind was; who caused him to have that nightmare and who was stalking his figure throughout the island since he got here? Was it his father? That would be the obvious answer, it was his face and his voice and his Aura but then again, he didn't even suspect that he was here until he showed his figurative face to him (he had hidden his Aura very well) so there was all the chance that there was someone else here… Controlling him again. Or could it be that his Father was real-

A sharp spike of quick pain entered his mind.

Jolting forward, he hissed slightly as he body shook and his eyes clamped themselves shut. Simultaneously, he felt his mark flare and the heat emanating off it begin to boil at heat at the flesh surrounding it. Stumbling forward, he regained his balance after a few seconds before pushing his hands back up to face, rubbing it once with gritted teeth. Then, he reopened his eyes to see… Darkness. Blinking once, Ash twisted on his heels to see that he was surrounded by pure darkness and nothing else. Suddenly, he became wide awake, causing his Aura at flare and begin to combat the surrounding darkness with its endearing and all-encompassing light. Narrowing his eyes, Ash noted that his Aura was fluctuating, rapidly switching back and forth from red and blue, bathing his body in a luminescent glow that washed over his form in conflict hues. Pulling his hand up to his face, the raven-haired teen allowed the lights to shine bright before his eyes, pulling his attention towards the lightshow currently erupting around his body rather than the darkness surrounding it before he gazed at it with a confused, longing expression.

"What the Hell is this…"

Shaking his head, Ash began to close his fist and snap his eyes shut before opening them to a completely different scene. Now, the darkness was simply a claustrophobic, cubic room with no deviation or reason and instead only kept to the theme that every wall was a mirror, broadcasting his own position; looking down, he even noted that the floor was reflective, coming face to face with his own person as her peered down. Snapping his head around the room, he just kept finding himself face-to-face with himself, unable to escape his own calculated gaze. It got to the point where he swore the room was beginning to close-up and shut in on himself, with the figures in the mirror watching with little regard; in fact, despite looking like him, each of the six paths held a contrasting and confusing mess of emotions in their broken faces that went against his own, all of them different but the same. What… What was going on? Was this some sort of Aura induced hallucination? Or was his mind finally slipping and succumbing to the madness of his trip? The whole situation reminded him of that night from a few days ago, were he was plunged into another reality from the work of some of Aura user but his Father had already left the island, right? So, it couldn't be him…

Letting curiosity take a-hold of his frame, Ash stumbled forwards with morbid curiosity of his surroundings and pushed his hand to the mirror straight ahead of him, before finding himself further confused when he felt no semblance of force pushing against his hand; Hell, it was like the mirror wasn't even there at all. Biting his lip, the Trainer shook his head and look back up to his head only to find himself shocked at what he saw. Before him, stood a figure imitating his every move, another version of him like the ones that scattered the room, but now he held a sickly smile on his face, stretching the skin into a disturbed smirk while he eyes held that similar black and red, almost ghoulish, appearance that he knew he took on sometimes. B-But he wasn't making that face, in fact it was quite the opposite; he was shaking slightly, with a frightful expression in his eyes and his Aura paused on a faint azure (he even looked over to the mirror at his left side to check that he wasn't wrong about that fact) so what the Hell was up with this mirror.

Then, it chuckled darkly. Snapping its eyes even further open, this Pseudo-Ash somehow make his grin only increase in size before lunging forward, hands in a gripping motion aiming directly for the boy himself. In a quick moment of fight-or-flight, Ash threw his hands before his face, waiting for a hit that he suspected would never really come. Not too long after, the world around him exploded. All around the teen, the sounds of heavy wind and the flapping of wings hit his body hard and shook his fragile form even further, while the lights and hues that penetrated the barricade of his eyelids rapidly shifted between crimson and blue once more. Allowing one of his pupils to emerge from under the web of skin, Ash found himself confused and enthralled once more as he found the mirror room that he was previously in gone, and instead was now standing in the middle of a hurricane of Butterfree, all circling his form at the eye of this Pokémon Storm. If that wasn't strange enough, these Kanto Natives didn't even look like normal Butterfree, with some possessing intricate blue and black patterns that danced across their bodies while others held red and black markings in a similar fashion, causing a myriad of constant change within Ash's optics.

For what seemed like forever, this swarm just continued to circle and spin around his stagnant figure before a high-pitched hissing noise emerged from behind Ash. Spinning on his heels, the teen barely had time to process the massive collection of red Butterfree before he felt a hard and harsh impact on his cheek which caused him to stumble backwards. However, that didn't help much as he just collided with the wall of Pokémon and was sent spiralling back towards his attack who reached out and gripped him by the front of his shirt. Regaining a semblance of courage despite the stinging pain in his cheek, Ash's eyes shot open only to find himself face-to-face with his body double once more, darkness induced fire still dancing within his eyes while his horrid grin remained on his face. Although, from this distance he could see the tips of his low hanging hair and saw that they were dipped in crimson, imitating his own blue dipped ends in a grim and strange light. Gritting his teeth, Ash tried to fight back against the tough grip of himself, only now noticing that he was emerging from the cluster of Butterfree (with only his torso poking out of their collection of wings), but to no avail as he succumbed to the rough grip of his double. After a few seconds, and another sickly smile, Pseudo-Ash spoke something in a rough, reversed language that sounded foreign to the Kanto boy's ears before looking him straight in the eye and roughly chucking him backwards.

At first, the teen thought that he would just be sent straight into the clutches of the Pokémon once more, but instead found himself falling. Shuddering at the loss of earth, Ash could barely see the blue stained skyline before colliding roughly with the earth below him. Tumbling across a rocky and hard landscape a few times, Ash groaned and moaned before he found himself roughly pulled away from the ground once more, feeling the air leave his lungs as he plummeted down some sort of hill (the soft feeling of a grass-like texture tickling his exposed flesh as he rolled). Finally, he came to a stop. Clutching his injured skull once again, he forced his heavy lids to open and reveal the fake world that he lay in; he didn't expect it to be this one though. Through a confused and nonsensical gaze, Ash found himself staring at his old home, in Kanto, in a patch of grass just outside it the world around him remained frozen, evident by the silence and the way that the blades of grass were suspended mid wave like the few Pidgey and Spearow the hung in the sky above his prone figure. What shook him even further was that he recognised this day; it was the day that he learned of Gary's plan to 'betray' him and just throw him to the wild.

Pulling his form off the floor, he shakily wandered over to the window of his house, peering inside to confirm his suspicion. As he suspected, the younger versions of his male friends sat mid conversation, all of them frozen in a state of aggression or annoyance. Now, viewing this scene with Gary's context in mind, he could see the conflict and the anger in the young man's face, his eyes turned to the floor in shame. Running his fingers across the window, he let them rest against it a few times before moving to the door. Gripping it, Ash allowed it open. Before him, sat the stagnant figures of the girls he loved, all of them naïve and holding such a large amount of childish innocence that it threatened to burn Ash's very soul. Staring at them, he allowed himself to smile; he hadn't ever seen this part of them that day, the five of them waiting for him to come back from the Lab, all waiting patiently. No doubt, they were probably going to talk to him about their feelings even though they were all of the tender age of 13 or 14, barely able to grasp the concept of love, never mind feel it. But then something dawned on his mind as he watched their anxious smiles and frozen laughter.

He wasn't here to see this… So why can he remember it?

During this point, he had been walking back from meeting his Pokémon and the only real memories of this event came from a jaded and broken point of view so he never saw this side of the boys or the girls so whose-whose memories were these? Was he looking into the mind of one of the girls? One of the guys? Perhaps it was just something to do with Aura, that it had sensed all of these moments and was now allowing him to relive them, or was it someone else, someone watching from the shadows as some sort of sick observer?

Gritting his teeth at the lack of answers and the twisted possibility roaming around his disturbed skull, he turned on his heel to leave and investigate only to become frozen as he did. In front of him, stood the younger version of himself. Ash couldn't help but become wide eyed once more, he head running rampant with ideas and thoughts about how he got here. Then he spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

Getting over the initial shock at how he looked and sounded at this age, the higher pitch causing him to shudder involuntarily, he spoke back.

"Uh… I don't actually know."

"Oh well, at least you're here with me and not those traitors."

Quirking his eyebrow at the younger version of himself, he responded.

"Wait, this is my mind so shouldn't you know that Gary only did this to protect everyone? That we were a potential danger and so needed to be taken out for a brief time?"

The younger him huffed.

"Bullshit: he did it cause he's jealous and angry at our power."

Now those were words he never expected to hear come out of his own mouth.

"No, that's completely wrong. He was sorry and apologetic and angry at himself for having to do this, why would he be jealous at something that could potentially destroy all of this?"

Gesturing to the room and the people that surrounded them, Ash waited for a few seconds as his younger body tried to process what he just said. Then, he heard him let out a harsh, dark laugh.

"Gary always hated us, wanted to be better than us on all levels. Then, when he learned that we had THIS, he realised that he would never be on top again."

As if to emphasise his point, 13-year-old Ash let his body become engulfed in the same sickly red Aura that he himself held as apart of himself today, watching as it flicked and distorted the child before him.

"Gary was arrogant, sure, but never to that extreme level."

"Oh yea? Where's your proof?"

"Were the years of friendship that we had after that not evidence enough?"

"Not for me, and I know that it wasn't for you either 'Ashy-Boy.'"

Opening his mouth to speak, Ash found his voice gone from his throat. Wait what? No… No, Gary and Ash were always friends, rivals and comrades but never going so far as to attack the other verbally or physically so why… Why was he making so much sen-?

"Oh well, I guess you really haven't learned anything after all"

Snapping his head back up, the raven harried trainer barely had time to process what had just been said before he felt a bone breaking blow of pure, crimson energy smash right into the front of his face. Unable to stop himself, the trainer just felt himself fly back through the hollow, empty feeling walls of the house with minimal effort before a loud smashing sound pierced his eyes and he abruptly stopped with a harsh collision to the back of his head. Accompanied by the dull sound of cracking and the falling of fragmented glass, the boy could only hiss in pain as he collapsed to the floor, allowing whatever cool material engulfed the world to freeze his face in aa cold comfort.

Then his eyes shot open.

Cold? Twisting his distorted vision to the floor once again, he found himself springing back involuntarily as he bore witness to the appearance of another mirror, another Ash staring back at him with wide and uncertain eyes that were very dissimilar to his own. Cursing the situation, he slowly shambled to his feet, spinning to see that all of the mirrors were back in full force, now making up some sort of Demonic and detrimental force that was looking down upon him, blocking him inside the twisted labyrinth that appeared to be his own mind. However, one was cracked, shattered right from a spot in the middle, causing his image to become demented and distorted beyond measure, alongside the creepy smile and ghoulish eyes that managed to peak out from between the fissures.

Clicking his tongue, Ash casually tried to walk up to the broken mess as though he didn't feel eyes gazing over his ever movement, before running his finger up the destroyed substance. It felt brittle, sharp and clean while also feeling tough, dull and rough beneath his fingers as they wound their way up the shiny sheen of the mirror. As he continued to do this, Ash forced himself to stare deep into the blackened eyes of the double, staring deep into the void until he could feel it staring back, soul to soul, heart to heart.

On the surface, he looked torn between figuring out what was going on and being disgusted by his horrendous form but on the inside of his mind, his gears were working and spinning as to figure out what he was gaining from coming here. Why had he been forced to witness what he just had? Reliving a childhood memory as shitty as that couldn't have been mere coincidence or just pulled from sort of metaphysical hat for 'Old-Times-Sake'. No… He had seen that for a reason, he had seen Gary for a reason, he had seen the girls for a reason and most importantly, he had seen himself for a reason; he had gotten to speak to the childish, immature version of himself that strived on arrogance and belief in his own ability alongside the power of others. To be honest, he thought that he had driven that part of himself out when he lived on Mt. Silver, forcing his psyche to push those shackling thoughts out of his head in order to focus on the bonds he felt between his companions but the very existence of this figure in his head meant that his mind was trying to tell him something, call out in a cry that he could only hear and understand through trauma. What that message was still eluded the teen unfortunately.

Finishing his expectation, Ash pulled his fingers away with a sigh. Although, he couldn't help but hear the faint falling of several small objects and so turned his face towards the floor to see more cracked fragments of glass. Quirking an eyebrow, he thought very little of it until turning to his own hand to see a shard of thin glass sticking out of his index finger, proudly presenting its cruelty to the closed off room. Questioning the lack of pain and agony that would usually come from glass, the raven-haired boy flicked the piece out with his thumb which unfortunately had the aftershock of generating a thick drop of crimson to emerge from his skin. Slowly, it began to fall.

Then it struck the floor with a poignant crash that echoed and shot off every mirrored wall. Suddenly, a child engulfed the room as the scene changed into a group of six, red tinted mirrors all the same shade as the blood that had just fallen atop the floor. Now his already distorted image was only added to by the inclusion of the foreboding colour and how it just twisted his figure even more, giving his skin a Demonic tint alongside his darkened gaze.

Before he could move, a dark chuckled flew through the air. Jolting forward in surprise, Ash almost found himself colliding with the mirror before him as he found his feet stuck, cemented in one place with bone-breaking tightness. Hissing, he looked down only to gape and become cold at the sight; two gloved hands were wrapped around his ankles, gripping onto them as though they were the only means of escape for this entity, this thing, while the beginning of a face poked out from the melting fixture of the mirror, smiling and smirking in disturbed glee.

Without warning, he was yanked under.

For a few seconds, Ash felt as though he was drowning on air. It filled up his lungs to the point of exploding, pumping him full of concentrated and pure cloud fodder until he could no longer take it. Once more, the sensation of falling erupted all over his figure as wind rushed past his face and absorbed him whole. Curiously, he felt himself becoming wet with rain and shoot, soaking his suspended figure as it plummeted. After a few seconds, his soaked form collided with the earth with a sickening crunch.

Several moments passed in deep silence with only the shudder pitter-patter of what sounded like rain absolving Ash's mind of reason as he tried to recover. Then, after a while, he stood up and was immediately bathed in a soft warming pink glow. Wincing at the sudden intrusion of light, Ash let his body become stagnant as his eyes slowly cracked open to reveal a large building of two or three floors surrounded only by darkness and empty space, nothing embracing it for miles and miles; in fact, from his brief view of the night lit world, the only thing that was remotely close to the place was the broken and cracked stretch of road that he was standing upon. Engraved upon the bust of the building was a numerous amount of shining 'X's' with the words 'The Liberty Club' also burned into it, which was the source of that rose lighting. Finding himself drawn to the warm, comforting exterior of the building, modelled like some sort of older Kanto establishment which struck a chord within himself.

Curiosity killed his caution as he wandered forwards and into the dull lights of the club.

Walking in, the trainer found himself instantly hit by the rich and deep smell of hard hitting perfume and the thick stench of musk that hung around the long corridor. Shaking his head to get some of the rain off his hair tips, he couldn't help but overhear the over played and drawn out giggling that was emerging from the large double doors at the end of the corridor accompanied by the soft beats and rhythmic drops in tone that also burst quietly from the room. Slowly, he waltzed over to it, feeling abandoned and alone once more despite the comfort.

On his way, down to the room however, different sets of laughter and giggling shook his head from various room that dotted the corridor. When he passed it at first, the giggling seemed natural, just a woman having fun with her significant other… But as it continued, with the same pandering and rhythmic giggle reverberating off the wooden interior, he began to grow concerned and curious once more. Allowing his feet to wander close to one of the rooms that sat closest to him, the door slightly ajar to let a small sliver of orange light bathe the darkened corridor in even more light.

Creeping his head into the exposed piece of space between the door, Ash couldn't help but let his eyes expand and a gasp to tumble out of his mouth. Before him, in a tiny, claustrophobic room was woman dressed in very little with her only defining feature being a large red veil falling over her face. From what it seemed, she was alone but was dancing and swinging around a pole as she ground and contorted her body into a myriad of exotic and seductive poses. Pulling his eyes from her swinging form, Ash looked down at the door to see a thick lock attached to the door, enclosing and entrapping this woman inside of her own room from the look of it.

Concerned, he spoke up.

"U-Um, hello? Are you okay?"

No response, only more dancing. In fact, it seemed that his voice did nothing to stop her as she began to speed up, what little clothing she had allowing her body and her exposed flesh to roll and shake around the room with increased enthusiasm. Fighting through any type of arousal he felt, Ash spoke up again to see if there was something wrong.

"Hey! Can you not hear me?"

Once again, the woman only sped up and to add insult to injury, she seemed to begin moaning and cursing lightly. Pushing himself away from the door, Ash found himself lightly panting and sweating at the display. If this truly was his mind then…

"What the actual fuck is wrong with me?"

Grunting, he spun on his heels and began a light jog down the corridor, stopping at every door to check the conditions of the inhabitant. Just like the first room, each housed a dancing woman who was performing very outrageous and seductive dances to absolutely no-one while remaining locked inside their rooms by massive, clunky metal locks. After a while, he finally reached the big double doors at the end, standing proud among this strange pit of fester and desire. It felt foreign, it felt off and strange as he stood among people living out lewd fantasies and lewd jobs that held nothing but torment yet they all seemed to be enjoying it. In the back of his head, he heard a small voice crying for him to just leave and walk out into the rainy night once more but the other voices just drowned him out, yelling at the captive to continue on his train of twisted emulgents and curiosity. So, he did.

Like a palace for dirtied royalty, the doors swung open at an excruciatingly slow pace, cutting across the ground with a rich, indulgent nature that seemed to leak throughout the whole establishment. Not even allowing them to open fully before entering, Ash stormed through the barriers and let them loosely fall to his side as he was struck with intense lights and even more intense music that seemed to shake his very mind and his very frame. For a few moments, he couldn't even open his eyes, unable to adjust to the sudden intensity, but after a while he did; and what he saw left him floored.

Flanking him for every which way before him, Ash could make out the writhing and hypnotic frames of each of the girls he loved dotted around a drab and dreary looking room, dancing and grinding into the air or a thin piece of metal in what looked like ecstasy induced delight. Under low red lights that seemed to flicker and burn under his very gaze, the raven-haired teen felt lost and out of place watching as they all moved to an invisible beat, a baseline unreadable to his mind and his ears while they continued to become slaves to its daunting dips and drops in tone and mood, relishing them all in perfect white noise.

Spinning around, the trainer wandered forth in a trance, confused and somewhat broken inside as he stumbled forward to his right, dodging around tables or chairs when he needed to, as he made his way towards a lovely looking green haired girl… Angie. Sucking in his breath, Ash watched with twisted delight as she curved her body around a pole, contorting and dancing with a wide smile on her face as she surrounded herself with a red fabric room on all sides. It all looked very… Complementary, her green against the rich reds, which also extended to what she was wearing; very little, enticing him with her pale body and lighting up a very difficult to put out fire within him. Clenching his fist, Ash took a long down and noted the thin veiled piece of rope keeping Angie to her own, confined cell of pleasure and found it very similar to the locks on the doors of the other girls, just more aesthetically pleasing while still acting as a way to keep him out. Swiftly looking over the woman before him once more, he bit his tongue and turned around, ready to look around some more.

Frantically, he zig-zagged from corner-to-corner, wall-to-wall looking at the girls in a slow methodical pace, not letting his mind rest as he stared upon them. Directly across from Angie was May, who was writhing on her own with some sort of thin sash of velvet, twirling it around her shapely form as to bring in the eyes of these invisible people… And it worked, on Ash at least. Her flesh was free and available for him to look at which excited him, yes, this was one of the girls he loved at all, merely seeing her face would lighten his mood, but to see her like this was something else, something that felt right… But it shouldn't, should it? Next up was Misty and Aria who appeared to be performing some sort of duet, spinning and twirling around each other which did wonders for his brain and his eyes but he once again found himself asking… Why did he enjoy all of this so much? Why was he taking in the information presented to him in a good way? Just… Why?

For another few minutes, it was nothing but them once more. Dawn was very energetic, very into this misshapen ideology of flesh, enjoyment clear on her face as she danced free, her own skin on almost full display and causing Ash to feel nothing but confliction once more. Then it was Iris, who was just as free and content to just allow her body to please those around her without any need for a dance, and while she succeeded, the person it was affecting couldn't help but wallow in self-loathing and despair. Then it was Serena, the innocent girl with honey hair sultry dancing around an apparatus with skill and flare that left Ash reeling and once again, questioning himself and his sanity.

At a few minutes, he had finished and his gaze was now cold and angry, angry at himself and why he was feeling this way and wanting the cold to just eat away his desires. However, he cast his eyes to the very back of the room only to see shadows, darkness just sitting there as musical notes passed through it rhythmically to impact and be absorbed into the dancing of the girls. Curiosity grew, action followed.

Walking forward, the teen didn't have to wait long for the shadows to dissipate, falling victim to the crimson lights once more and sending them away in an instant to reveal stairs and stairs, and a figure atop a throne of sin, of lust and desire that sat above everyone else. The frame was male and was leaning back, bathed in what little darkness was left, but to Ash's surprise, he could clearly make out the docile form of Cynthia to the side of the chair, lounging around in such a seductive and pleasing position that Ash briefly forgot where he was, much like with his encounters with the other girls. Before he could open his mouth, a dark, familiar chuckle passed throughout the air.

" **Like my… Collection**?"

Growling from the back of his throat, Ash's resolve hardened one more at the sight of that fucking mask, red jewels glaring and staring straight at him with their imposing and dominating scarlet colour scheme. From the sight of those two things combined (mask and voice), Ash slowly concluded that this was his Father… But something was off… In the back of the mask, he could make out a few stray threads of black hair tipped with a low red glow that his Father, or whatever figure was in his head, did not possess alongside the change in attire to a more battle orientated, trainer suit that look vaguely similar to Ash's own and the higher voice that also sounded similar but due to the anger clouding his mind, he guessed that logical thought escaped him. Leaning forward, Ash could tell that this man was smiling behind that mask, gloating at him in silent rebellion.

Craning his neck towards Cynthia, the figure nodded. Quietly, the blonde woman leaned up with such a subtle case of seduction that Ash almost missed it, and slowly began to rip the mask off of his face. For a few moments, Ash was confused; why was this man revealing his identity to him if he was willing to put him through this… Then the face was revealed and all that washed away in an instant, horror taking over in its place.

Before him, sat as the King of the palace of desire, was himself.

Just like back at the mirrors, he held the blackened eyes of a monster, complete with red iris' and an intimidating crimson gaze that managed to bite away at Ash's psyche. Was this really what he looked like when he used red Aura? Did he look as ghoulish and horrifying as this to those that he knew… If so, the incident at the beach must have been a harsh and hard impact to those that witnessed it. Shaking his head, he returned his corrupted self's stare, determined to break it or match it no matter the cost.

" **You like it, don't you?** "

The question seemed so insane, so wild that for a second, Ash thought of rebelling; Hell, even his doppelganger wasn't taking this seriously, spinning his discarded mask around his finger with little care. However, before Ash could make a retort, go against his claims, his head took over his heart, his judgment took over his wants and he found himself agreeing with his Shadow… He truly did enjoy looking at the girls, taking in their flesh and their forms that shook and moaned in ecstasy because it lit a fire of desire within himself, one that he had felt for some time but was too ashamed to admit it. But this, whatever this whole thing was, still seemed wrong and estranged, something to be worshipped and gawked at instead of admired and that broke the teens heart, the fact that he was enjoying and partaking in something of this standard. To coincide, these twisted thoughts left his head and managed to infect his heart, managing to feel sorry for either himself or the person that cast this strange case of black heartedness upon him.

" **What's wrong Ashy? Something caught your tongue?** "

Grunting at the assumption made by his double, he huffed and began to menacingly walk forward.

"Fuck you and fuck this place. I-I feel nothing, understand?!"

Though he said it as a threat, the figure seemed to soften and sigh out and gained a posture not too dissimilar of the younger version of himself from his previous vision.

" **Damn, you really are worthless…** "

Leaning back, his Shadow simply clicked his fingers with a look of disinterest and annoyance, that Ash's mere presence here meant nothing and that he was some sort of nuisance. From that click, Ash saw the lights flicker and fade for a mere second as a wave of darkened Aura passed over him and the whole place before he found himself surrounded, trapped by flesh.

After adapting to the unfamiliar environment once more, he couldn't help but let out a gasp at the sight of several of the girls dancing and grinding into his stagnant form, giggling and moaning the whole while in sickened glee. He was in such shock that he couldn't even move, a dark blush slowly falling over his face as they moved, each press of their bodies into his own too much for his cognition to the point where he couldn't even tell who was around his body, just that it all felt soft and warm. To his surprise, he didn't fight it either, but couldn't embrace it completely as he just stood a gape as the girls surrounded and encapsulated him. It was to the point where he didn't even notice his double wandered towards them, a look of anger and annoyance apparent once again until he finally reached him, staring through his very soul with disregard and regret.

Without another word, he pushed his two of his fingers into Ash's cranium with a hard and harsh hit, sending him sprawling backwards as the lights dimmed and the room collapsed in on itself. For a few seconds, Ash just felt himself falling, through the air, through a void, he had no clue other than the fact he was falling. Then he landed. Crashing roughly into a cold and sharp material, the teen knew where he was immediately; he was back in the room of mirrors, feeling alone and abandoned once again.

Gritting his teeth and his fist, the trainer pushed himself to his feet with a linger presence of aggression washing over him as he stood face to face with himself once more, watching with disgust as this figured copied his every motion. Glancing down, he noticed that the floor which he stood on remained cracked and fragmented alongside one of the walls which stood to his left… These were where he was pulled into the hazes, right? Where he was forcibly dragged into visions of annoyance and nostalgia, of lust and desire?

Shaking his fists in frustration, he walked forwards and towards one of the mirrors yet to be cracked and just stood there, watching with sickening anticipation at these figures next move. He knew there was more, there had to be if he was going to get any answers, so he just tried to steel himself for whatever was coming and how he would prepare for it. However, as he continued to stand there and just stare at himself, his mind began to wander to his previous threads of thought once again; why had he seen that? Unlike the last one, the scenario that had just been painted before his eyes was not real, it had not occurred, so what was it? And why had he been the ring leader, the man atop it all, the one taking in the desire and frustration given off, why was it him standing atop the corpses of innocence that the girls had painted before-hand? As he dived deeper for answer, all he pulled up were more questions.

Suddenly, another low, rough laugh entered the room.

Shocking himself out of his stupor, Ash's eyes shot up in preparation only to encounter the eyes of himself again, staring at him with intrigue and enjoyment through blackened sclera and reddened iris'. What managed to shake him, though, was the appearance of multiple distortions of his stagnant form in the mirror, standing shoulder-to-shoulder behind the one before him. That was when he felt a heavy impact on his right shoulder which was soon followed by the rough coughing of several figures behind him. Steeling himself, Ash swerved before suddenly becoming still and frozen once more at the sight he witnessed; before him stood hundreds of himself, stretching far and wide into the distance while they all gazed at him with aggressive longing fresh in their eyes; their dark, soulless looking eyes.

Growling, the trainer pushed himself forward as to try and break their hold only to be rocketed back by a human barricade, of which slammed into him with enough force to take what little air was left in his lungs. This was shortly followed by an all-encompassing darkness that swept over the entire scope of the land, twisting and distorting around Ash's prone figure with all the poise and positioning as an inky serpent, rising and coiling around its prey. For a few seconds, the teen just waited in the darkness, frozen and still for whatever was coming as he tried to regain a semblance of his breath. Then, he flew. Rocketing up and towards the ceiling with tremendous speeds, Ash collided with the mirror hard, outlined by the hundreds of broken mirror shards that lay shattered around his suspended form.

Just like the last two times, he felt himself choke on the sky before roughly crashing into a barren and deserted piece of rocky land. Moaning and crying out as he rolled and bounced off of the earth, Ash cradled his form lightly while he hissed and clawed at his scrapes and battle-damage. He had a plan in his head though, he knew that he couldn't stay prone for too long. Clenching his fist, he slammed it into the world below his figure and was pleasantly surprised when he felt the rocky and hard ground and not some warped dystopian society.

That is, until he looked up.

A stark look of shock and abstract terror crossed Ash's features as he looked around where his vision had put him; a barren world filled with absolutely nothing but destruction and rubble, where no city or tree or rock formation stood tall and instead had either withered and died, or joined the corpses of their fellow landscapes that dotted the world. It was strangely comforting while also being intensely creepy, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on sharp guard while goose-bumps ran rampant throughout his body. Finally standing up to his full height, the raven-haired teen bit his lip in anticipation, once again ready for whatever piece of shifting horror lurked out in the wilds, for whatever could have done this.

A loud, piercing cry followed by an intense explosion of light was his answer.

Shielding his eyes from the ethereal gaze that the light gave off, Ash could even feel his skin burning and singeing under the glare he received as smoke and debris flew all across him, dirtying his face and clothing in soot and ash. This continued for a few seconds before it seized all together, leaving the world cold and silent once more. Huffing at the sudden and colossal intrusion, the teen began to slowly open his eyes, allowing the cracks in his flesh to witness what had just seemingly collapsed the earth once more. What he saw did not disappoint.

Before him, floating in a devastatingly peaceful stance, was Arceus. The very presence of the beast gave Ash anxiety, seeing him here meant that he could be under the same influence that the previous two sets of vision were, how they were twisted and demented versions of reality or… whatever that other one was. Shaking his head, the teen held a tiny piece of hope in his heart that this time it would be alright, that he would get answers and that he would get no more questions; that's what he hoped anyway. Stumbling forward towards the Legendary being, Ash began to pant and hiss at the heat and the light being given off, Arceus' mere presence eluding a sense of wonder and amazement not felt by the boy before now despite his status… Yet it felt different, altered, changed to be something else, that it was no longer looking out for the boy and rather that the God was locking a heated gaze onto the teen as he gazed at him with contempt and hatred deep with his piercing crimson eyes, glowing with intent and an over bearing passion that could very well convert and manipulate a lesser man.

"A-Arceus? What is going on here?"

Silence, accompanied by a much colder stare.

"Can you even hear me?"

More silence.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

Smashing his foot into the ground, Ash huffed and growled at the beats before him. However, before any more questions could be asked, a familiar chuckle invaded the air. Smirking darkly at its appearance, Ash sucked on his dry lips at the mere sight of a vague flash of red on the God's back and what stepped forward from the flash.

Before him appeared to be another version of himself, yet it held itself in much higher regard then any before it. Like the one at the club, this one was wearing that damned mask and was wearing it proudly, accompanied by large strokes of red mixing in with ink on what little hair managed to break free from the masks hold. His outfit had also changed, becoming much darker and much colder, much more refined and reformed with some sort of darker undertone to the whole piece. In fact, only his arm appeared to be free, glowing bright with the appearance of scarlet on his mark while a large array of crimson shot out from behind him. Even though he couldn't see his eyes, Ash knew his Shadow was glaring at him.

This silent standoff continued for quite some time, the two just looking at one another as their different Auras burned subconsciously around the deserted and decimated battlefield. After a while, Ash grew tired of waiting.

"What? No speech about how I should be enjoying this destruction? About how this is how it feels to control God? About how I'm weak? Nothing?"

The figure huffed. Arceus craned his head at the man. He nodded.

Without even another word, the skies exploded in bright, deranged colour and sheer force that it sent Ash flying, catapulting his through the air until he reached another collision with the rough earth. For a few seconds, it was quiet except for his wheezing. Then, out of nowhere, the cries of anguish and imminent doom began to spill out from Heaven and crash into the earth like a tsunami, washing over Ash's stagnant form and eating away his confidence, his intimidation, his pride. All of it was corroded by the roars emitted from whatever creatures were just summoned from Hell, where their supremacy reigned and fickle things like him were constantly told to lay down and die, where he was worthless.

Steeling his resolve, the raven-haired teen pulled his shaky and frightened frame, his frozen and broken eyes up to where Arceus once stood alone and couldn't even gasp at what he saw, the words robbed from his mouth by these phantom thieves of Legend. Before him stood the creatures of myth, the Legendary beasts that he had helped, that he held such passion and care for, all stood there with the same piercing stare that their Lord held. All of them silent, all of them still; all of them ready to decimate him if he even made the slightest movement.

Gulping down his apprehension, Ash began to survey and go over the behemoths, becoming entrapped and enchanted by their stares of red, their eyes the thick crimson colour of Aura that burned deep within them and power and energy expelled itself from their bodies and into the world around them. If Ash was cynical, he would have said that their power was corrupting the skies but no matter where he was, he couldn't help but marvel at them, take in their power and just appreciate it while the land burned in scarlet fire. However, their majesty didn't allow his mind to be swayed as he was confused and intrigued at their eye colour, how it had changed the blues or the blacks, the greys or the greens of some of their eyes before and how they were all block red, glowing with the intensity of a burning fire and all of it was coming down on him and him alone.

Shifting his eyes towards Arceus once more, he felt his voice exit his body as he watched on in horror. The figure, this Shadow stood there bathed in ethereal red light, hands contorting and cracking with the same dark energy as threads of power hooked up and were strewn in between each of the Legendries, their wills robbed by the man… By him. Behind the mask, he could tell that the figure was smiling, that he was smirking at his torture, to see the Pokémon that he had helped and reconciled with stare at him with such hatred and pain while being surrender to the Shadow's very will and movement.

Glancing down at him, the figure laughed his disturbed laugh, making his twisted notes poison the air even further before clicking his fingers and pointing at the defenceless figure of Ash. Red burst all over the skyline as power shot through the lines connecting each legendary, filling them with power and energy in such a short amount of time; even their already glowing eyes appeared to burn that little bit brighter and with a little bit more hatred towards the boy they had previously praised. Ash was broken, he was unable to do anything so instead he opted to watch the world burn in the glory of these beasts. Then, one by one, each of the Legendries began to gather power, building up massive amounts of built up energy in their jaws, in their hands, in their whole bodies to unleash upon the poor, battered world; one by one, they set themselves up to kill this one person.

Sparing one last look at the Shadow, Ash narrowed his eyes at this man and his power, how he had these powerful creatures under his thumb and could control them with such ease, how the power he himself wielded could be used against the world in such a way; it sickened him, deep down to the deepest pit of his stomach. Spitting on this fake earth, the teen relented. Whatever this disturbed reality had for him, he would take it and push back... That was what he wanted to believe anyway.

Suddenly, the sky fractured with the amount of power released in blast, the differing colours twirling and mixing around each other as the attacks collided, spinning round and round in a spiral pattern that could encompass the entire world if it so wished began shooting forward towards Ash. If this were a different situation, this sort of thing could even be considered beautiful, mesmerising, the different shades and the differing identities of colour painting such an image against the bleak world that the teen forgot to even shelter himself from the attack, instead opting to look upon the skies with awe. It travelled with such grace that its destruction could be seen as art, tearing away the world with its power and majesty to the point where even the bleak and empty sky was bowing down to its strength. Something so apocalyptic had never looked so beautiful.

Somehow, before Ash could be hit by such aa colossal attack, a single word began to echo through the entire world, shooting through the skies and burying itself deep into the ground with the same intensity the entire way through. Despite how insignificant the word may have seemed to others, just the idea of its appearance to Ash was enough to boil his blood.

" **Worthless.** "

Then the world ignited in a bright white flame.

Cheering…

Ash could hear cheering.

Pulling his arms away from his face and blinking in surprise, the raven-haired teen suddenly found himself in-front of the stadium holding all of the battles for the tournament. Spinning in a circle to make sure that he wasn't still in some twisted amalgamation, Ash began to pant lightly at the appearance of the real world; of the lush green grass sitting at his feet instead of the bleak emptiness he had witnessed before, of the beauty and purity of the ocean off in the distance in place of the boundless wilds of shattered earth, of the metallic looking buildings and the stadium filled with people who weren't himself, of people who weren't as twisted as he was. Running a hand down his tired face, he let out a chuckle… A dark chuckle.

"What the actual Hell did I just witness?"

Not only had he somehow travelled from the cliff-side to the stadium during his waking nightmare, he had also been graciously introduced to concepts and ideologies seemingly hidden within his own brain that were pointing towards absurd fantasies, or disturbed remains of past memories. It could be considered as funny, what he had seen; after all, interacting with several heavily fucked up versions of your own psyche would be considered funny if it wasn't so damn terrifying. As he stood in a seemingly empty street, Ash began to relent. Why had he seen those things? Despite the fact that he knew he didn't have the answers and that he had even poised this very same question into himself several times in his 'dream', he couldn't help but ask. Seeing an arrogant past version of yourself who may have revealed some hidden agenda that you kept when you were young, being a part of a strange lewd fantasy staring your lovers and the twisted vision of yourself above them or witnessing the end of the world seemingly at your own hand would mess someone up if they happened individually so to see them in one trip was maddening.

Past that, what could each of these twisted images represent? He was a stupid, arrogant kid who got by on luck? Well he had realised that a long time ago but maybe there was more to it that he didn't realise. Or how he liked seeing the girls in those situations, was it because of some deranged list of kinky fantasies within his skull or just that he appreciated them as beautiful people? And why was he there as some sort of ring leader? However, the one that intrigued him the most was the last one, the one with the Legendaries. Did he truly have that power, the power to control even Arceus himself? He assumed it was himself anyway… It had the same hair that he had seen and the same deep voice but as this stage he had no clue… Just that his brain was truly a messed up place right now.

Even then, why did that happen? He remembered that he had learned about something known as 'Aura Backlash' while on Mt. Silver but had never looked into it too much because it had never happened to him, so it could have been that… But he hadn't been using too much Aura recently. Perhaps it's based on how much stress has been put on his mind and body in the last week accompanied by his Aura. Then there's also the case that it could be another Aura user, twisting and contorting his mind like before, but then there's also multiple problems with that theory as well due to the fact that his Father was seemingly off the island, and that he knew of no other Aura users on the island at the time being; could there be someone following him again, stalking him and messing with his mind? The way his mark had been tampered with was different than before, it had hurt more than before and was a distinct colour so it could be a different Aura user… Or it could have just been himself…

Speaking of his Aura, the trainer took a glance at his Mark which stood free to the world only to see it burning a rich red, just like the different Shadow versions of himself were in the visions. Frowning, he couldn't see why as his eyes appeared normal (at least in the reflection in the glass windows of the stadium) and he wasn't expelling any Aura at this point so his Mark was burning for no reason. However, it suddenly stopped and faded after he had been staring at it for a long enough period of time. Once again, Ash found himself floored for answers at what had just happened and so just pulled his sleeve down over his mark, hoping that could clam his rocketing anxiety and anger.

Huffing heavily at this entire situation, Ash just gave up for now. Perhaps he will get to revisit that sequence later, that he will get to explore it and venture into the parts of his mind that he dared to venture this time round. Perhaps this was the last time he would visit it, the questions continuing to haunt him for the rest of his days; right now, he had no idea.

What he did have an idea of though, was what he said to himself before he entered the sequence… That he needed to remember how to live, how to be a good person and a good trainer, to be there for the girls and for his Mom, to be there for his friends and tell them that he knew why they left him go, be there for his Pokémon and stand by them, train like they used to and not like they did on Mt. Silver, he needed to be there for everyone so that they could all be a family once more. Smirking, he flipped his hood over his shaggy hair, hiding his face away from the world as he shot off his Aura, trying to determine who was still in the stadium that he knew. Thankfully, quite a few of his friends and confidants were there, lounging and watching the matches paly out; in fact, it seemed that Quincy was fighting someone right now. Rolling his tongue, he began to make his way inside and to the stands.

Thankfully for Ash, most people were inside the stands already, most of them had probably been there all day if he was to have a guess, so there weren't many people outside the stadium or even in the reception/hall area if the metallic dome. Playing and messing around with his fingers to allow time to pass, Ash began to wander up the steps and into the dark corridors that led to the stands, subtly using his Aura to weave around the few stragglers or pieces of the interior as he walked. After a while, he finally made it to the stadium's dome interior. Allowing himself to be absorbed by the deep droning noises of the crowd, of the cheering and the bright lights, Ash just stood in the warm evening air, allowing his mind to rest from the struggles he had faced today; the lights and the noise made him feel calm, it was familiar and powerful enough to wrestle his unrestrained spirit and force it to cooperate with the world for the time being… And that's just how he wanted it to be.

Taking off down the different aisles and rows of people in order to reach his own group, Ash couldn't help but chuckle at the smiling and cheering faces of the crowd as he walked on by. When he younger and had to sit in the stands, he would solely focus on the stage and who was battling, never allowing his young mind to take in the sights and the noise around him, never take in those that were cheering for both him and the people battling. Even at contests where May or Dawn or Serena did their performances, he was always focused on them and never the crowd; however, those were different circumstances. Fortunately for his steadily darkening blush, he had reached his destination.

Sitting comfortably before him in a row of seats were Iris and Angie, talking about wild Pokémon and intensely commentating on the battle before them while Serena and Dawn were chatting about contests and what they would each do for different combos and the like. For a few seconds, he just stood there, expecting one of them to spot him and talk to him, after all he wasn't really all that inconspicuous despite his best efforts… Instead they just ignored him. Huffing at the lack of contact, he crouched down, not wanting to be in the way of anyone watching the match, and instead leaned forward and coughed right next to Iris' ear. She then jumped out of her seat in fright.

"Ah! What the Hell was- Oh it's you."

In a split second, the Unova native went from shocked and worried to almost completely monotone and bored sounding. To be honest, it sort of hurt.

"W-What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing… I just thought that it was someone more important is all."

Alright, now she was pushing it. However, he couldn't really fault the cheeky grin that had spread all over her face, so instead he decided to just ignore her. Turning his attention to the other girls in the row, he gave them all a wave.

"Hey girls, how are you all doing?"

Hearing his voice caused the Contest combatants to turn their head towards him while Angie finally decided to speak up against his abuse that he had to endure from Iris… Who was now looking quite annoyed at being completely upstaged and ignored.

"Ash! It's you!"

Not surprisingly, Serena was first to point out his appearance, a thick cloud of red dusting her cheeks with a bright smile on her face. Ash couldn't help but emulate it.

"Who else would it be… Someone more important?"

He saw Iris twitch out of the corner of his eye.

"Hm? Doesn't matter. Anyway, where have you been? It's been hours since your match and you said you'd meet us right back here after it the other day so, what gives?"

Ever the energetic and upfront one, Dawn began leaning forward and pouting towards his general direction to make him begin to feel that ever bit guilty… And she got him hook-line-and-sinker.

"Hehehe… Sorry about that, I had… Um…"

"Man, you've got him tongue tied, Dawn. Good job."

Seizing his mumbling, he turned towards a smirking Angie who was calmly leaning back in her seat, just content with watching this whole train-wreck play out. Adding insult to injury, Ash couldn't think of a good comeback in time.

"… Shut up."

All around him, he heard the quiet giggling of the girls, only putting him further into a slump. This was when Iris decided to speak up once more.

"So, what's up then Ashy, decided to sit on the floor, have you?"

Peaking his head up, he did notice that he would have absolutely nowhere to sit apart from the floor… Except… With cold, almost motionless eyes, Ash stood up, quietly walked towards Iris (the shortest and lightest of the group) and despite her strange and quirked expression, picked up her swiftly before sitting in her spot. He then sat he down on his lap.

"W-What d-do you t-think you're doing, h-huh!?"

Smirking, he replied.

"I'm sure someone more important needs that space more than me, don't you think? Plus, you're the lightest and smallest here; easiest to pick up."

A creeping red blush engulfed the girls face as she began to sputter and mutter quietly as something along the lines of 'Stupid little kid' left her mouth. However, she didn't move and instead just leant back into his chest, wild purple hair sitting directly under his chin which he then sat his own head upon for leverage and breathing room. Happy with their arranged seating, the Kanto teen turned his attention to the others who were just watching with confused or joyful grins.

"So how have the matches been?"

"Oh, they've been good; Carrie and Selina got paired up against each other and so they had to fight each other with Selina eventually winning but they both did very well, then Tino won against a girl from Johto and won against her. Unfortunately, Allie lost her match against a boy from Sinnoh and Axel hasn't had his match yet but it should be right after this."

"And Quincy is beating this guy, now right?"

After listening to Serena's quick synopsis, he went over the information of who he could be fighting next round before glancing down at Quincy and his Flareon going up against a guy and his Torterra. As to extend and back up his point, after he spoke the crowd began to roar and shout as a nasty **Flame Thrower** left the Torterra burned and stumbling on its last legs in the centre of the arena.

"It was actually pretty close in the beginning but then Quincy just began to beat the guy into the ground when Flareon came out."

Angie quickly answered, leaning over in her seat to rest her head upon Ash's shoulder for some extra warmth and comfort.

"Hm, sounds good. Hope I get to battle him next round."

It was at this point that Ash began to recall that he hadn't heard several voices for some time. Leaning forward and bringing the girl on his lap with him as he rocked, he noticed the absence of May, Misty and Aria.

"Hey, where are the others? I would have thought they'd be here by now.

Turning her head to the side in a slow but cute way, Dawn pushed her finger to her mouth for a few seconds before clicking.

"Oh yea! We haven't really seen May all day, only this morning and even then, it was only for a few minutes… Anyway, she asked if Misty could help her with something and we haven't seen them for the rest of the day. Then after a few hours after you left (*glare*) Aria went to look for you and then check up on those two and now she hasn't been back since then either. And Cynthia has been in the Champions Box all day, with all the Champions and all of her other friends that aren't us..."

Sulking in her chair, the Sinnoh girl turned to Serena with another pout while Ash thought about what she meant… And it all lead back to a certain Legendary Prince.

"Why do people keep ditching us Serena…"

A nervous chuckle followed.

"I-I don't think there are being that harsh Dawn, d-don't worry okay?"

Slowly, the honey haired girl turned back to Ash and looked him in the eye.

"Um Ash… Where have you been for the last few hours? We were all pretty worried when you didn't come back."

To accentuate her point, Serena began to rub her arm as a sign of comfort. Sighing, Ash leant over with the arm that wasn't being held onto by Angie to rub the worried girl's hair, which was free from the confines of her hat for once.

"I was just thinking about stuff and things, you know… Nothing too serious."

"'Too serious'? Then it's a little bit serious, huh?"

Finally finding her voice again, Iris looked up towards the brown doe eyes of the Kanto boy with a teasing grin.

"Oh yeah, serious things that some 'little kids' shouldn't be thinking so I'll have to tell you all about it when Iris isn't here, sorry."

Silence.

"What!? How dare you be so damn rude to me! I am not some little kid I will- "

As Iris continued to rave and rant about her 'mistreatment', Ash could only laugh alongside the others at her behaviour. This… This is where he belonged, with them, sitting here having fun and not worrying about the dangers of the world, of the dangers of his own mind… He doesn't need to worry with them around. Subconsciously, he wrapped his arms a little tighter around Iris, just to make sure that this was real, that he was ready for all of this. And he was.

He just hoped that fate would allow him to be happy, at least for a little while…

* * *

 **DONE! YES! FINALLY, ANOTHER CHAPTER DOWN! I really hoped that all like this chapter and if you are confused, there are quite a few secrets and little hints at a lot of things throughout the whole picture hidden within this chapter and it acts as a way for me to set up something much bigger and to set up a new conflict, an internal conflict between Ash. However, the next few chapters will be forcusing on his relationships with different people and how he aims to mend them.**

 **Also, I tried to add a bit more character and personality to each person to flesh them out more as when I first started writing, I had every girl basically be a carbon cut out of each other without any distinct personality changes or anything like that so now I have tried to add some more character to them and even Ash himself so I hoped you liked that.**

 **Gonna be honest, dunno when the next one will be out but it will not take 7 months, I promise you that. And leaving you, here is the harem list (P.S Keeping the poll up still as this chapter may remind people that it's actually there, will be closing next chapter).**

 **Misty**

 **May**

 **Dawn**

 **Iris**

 **Serena**

 **Angie**

 **Aria**

 **Cynthia**

 **Miette**

 **Korrina**

 **(blank)**

 **(blank)**

 **SO WITH THAT I SAY GOOOOOOODBBYYYYYYYYE!**

 **P.S Please PM me any ideas or concerns you have or if you just wanna talk, i really don't mind, okay?**

 **-Jack**


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